Written by Alison
on Jul 30, 2023

Whale Report: July 12, 2023 AM – T49As vs Crabpots

Whale Report: July 12, 2023 AM – T49As vs Crabpots

July 12, 2023 PM – We headed north with with our first stop at the Cactus Islands.  Captain Ivan took us between the kelp beds to look for Harbor Seals.  It was really fun to see so many swimming and resting amongst these beautiful Bull Kelp forests.  We were also delighted to see many Pigeon Guillemots in the area too.  Next we headed west into Canada.  There we encountered the T49A’s a family of Bigg’s (Marine mammal eating) Killer Whales.  T49A, the 37 year old matriarch, has 6 calves ranging in age from Noah at 22 a huge adult male to “Smoosh Face” (my name for 1.5 year old T49A6) with its cute under bite.  The three other siblings present are aged 12, 7 and 5.  Their behavior today was a first for me to personally witness, they were playing with crab pots!  The whole family was engaged circling around and pulling the floats under water and then letting them go and they would pop back up to the surface.  There were a couple of spy hops near the floats (sorry no pics) a tail wave too.  Eventually they moved on and started heading south along the Vancouver Island shoreline.  It was time for us to head for home, but we still had time to check out some more Harbor Seals on Sentinel Rock and there were also lots of Mouflon (big horned) sheep along the Spieden Island shoreline.  Some were right at the waters edge, some up in the meadows above.    Another beautiful day on the water!

 

Photographer and Naturalist: Alison Engle – Instagram: @Alisonengleart – Website: www.alisonengle.com

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

Written by Alison
on Jul 30, 2023

Whale Report: July 12, 2023 AM – T49As vs Crabpots

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