Written by Bethany
on May 13, 2023

Whale Report: April 29, 2023 – Bigg’s Killer Whales and Two Humpbacks

Whale Report: April 29, 2023 – Bigg’s Killer Whales and Two Humpbacks

April 29, 2023 – We started off our trip by departing Friday Harbor and heading north through one of our favorite parts of the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea to the Canadian Gulf Islands! We spotted two humpback whales in the Strait of Georgia known as BCZ0414 “Zephyr” and BCY0994 “Dalmatian”. We had one beautiful surfacing of the two whales before we realized that there was a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales headed right for them! The next surfacing was very interesting with “Zephyr” and the killer whales known as the T65Bs surfacing right next to each other! “Dalmatian” had taken off and surfaced several hundred yards away! The killer whales continued without any further interactions but what a way to start this encounter! We followed along with the humpback whale “Dalmatian” for a while before heading over to the family of killer whales. This group of four consists of mom T65B “Chunk” and her three children, including her newborn calf! The calf is still very new, and was the distinctive orange color that all newborns are when they are born! We watched them travel before suddenly, they found a harbor seal and the hunt was on! We watched them quickly hunt and catch the harbor seal and then share the food amongst themselves. We even saw some celebratory behaviors such as moon-walking (backwards swimming) and a spyhop! What a wonderful trip!

T65Bs

BCZ0414 “Zephyr”

BCY0994 “Dalmatian”

Backwards swimming aka moonwalking.

T65B3

T65B “Chunk” and her new calf

T65B1 “Birdsall”

T65B3

T65Bs

Photographer and Naturalist: Bethany Shimasaki – Instagram @Adventures.with.Bethany – Website: www.bethshim.com

Western Prince Wildlife Adventures – Instagram: @Westernprincewildlife – Facebook: Western Prince Whale Watching

Written by Bethany
on May 13, 2023

Whale Report: April 29, 2023 – Bigg’s Killer Whales and Two Humpbacks

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