With Gray Whales, Humpbacks and even Fin Whales being seen on the west coast of Vancouver Island, our inside waters are starting to see some activity which has not been seen in many years. The Sperm Whale, first spotted in Blackfish Sound, managed to sneak down Georgia Strait and was spotted around Nanaimo, third hand…
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Transient Bigg’s were spending a lot of time hunting sea lions by Comox and Hornby Island during the herring fishery with some others on the hunt on the West Coast of Vancouver Island where the Grey Whales have made there way back into our coastal waters in numbers. Grey (or Gray) Whales most frequently travel…
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A few of the Transient Bigg’s Orca that had moved out a while ago seem to have gathered together. The family pods called, T002Cs, T086As, T077s, T101s and the lone T087 were all seen passing Powell River. With the sea lions grouped up to feed by the herring fishery on the Vancouver Island side of…
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A WOW moment to hear that a Sperm Whale in our inner waters again, and below the top of Vancouver Island! Dept. of Fisheries confirmed the sighting of this lone whale foraging in the Blackfish Sound area for about a week. The last DFO sighting recorded was in 1984. Sperm Whales are extremely deep divers…
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The Northern Resident Killer Whales of the family pod known as the A42’s have been spending a lot of time on the move between the Gibsons area along the Sunshine Coast of BC to Powell River, then back again. That’s over 100 km in a day! They even spent some time rubbing on one of…
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Transient Bigg’s and some Unidentified Orca sightings top this report. Although we believe the unidentified Killer Whales may be Bigg’s also, we could not confirm in time for this short report. Although they were closer to shore, they were difficult to see in the lumpy seas. Most Humpback Whales seem to be in other areas…
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It’s great to know that Pacific White Sided Dolphins have returned in some numbers into our inside waters. They frequently have a tendency to travel afield during the Autumn months then reappear right around this time concentrating on feeding more than play. Orca reports have included some Transient Bigg’s and A42s of the Northern Resident…
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Biggs Killer Whales have been reported hunting with two great video clip submissions included below. One of the clips has Humpback Whales fending off the Orca while a sealion or two hides behind the larger animals. Every year, we have Southern Resident pods, particularly J-Pod, show up in the northern Georgia Strait area, but have…
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The Northern Resident Orca family called the A42’s have once again returned to the Powell River area. We even managed a photo from our streaming web cam. It was in December 2012 when Mom A42 Sonora had her calf A103 Albion, named after the point she was first observed at. Around that same time there…
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There are still plenty of Humpback Whales in the upper Georgia Strait with a few larger groups of Pacific White Sided Dolphins either harassing them or cooperatively feeding. A few Orca, mostly the meat eating Transient Bigg’s transitted but suprisingly not chasing the large regrouping of Harbour Porpoise by their favourite area by Whytcliffe park…
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Orca and Humpback Whales are still prevalent in our reports. Orca seem to be transitting areas while many Humpbacks are still staying throughout the Georgia Strait. We had one day which appeared to have a mass southerly movement of Humpbacks, but their movements slowed with some returning northward or staying around the western end of…
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Numerous Humpback Whales are still foraging all over the inside waters between Vancouver Island and the mainland shores. They don’t appear to be in any hurry to depart to breeding grounds, or have we become both feeding and breeding grounds now? We heard that there were a number of them also at the entrance to…
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Many Humpback Whales have not started their long migration to southern breeding grounds. Is this because they don’t plan to breed this year, or is it because they haven’t had enough food to build their reserves? The breeding grounds do not have much in the way of food for them, so when they are at…
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The Southern Resident Orca, J-Pod and a few from L-Pod, stayed in the upper Georgia Strait to forage, then continued south past Comox. Transient Bigg’s Orca popped up in many of the channels, but aren’t favouring any specific area, as of yet. Humpback Whales are staying in the upper Georgia Strait to forage although they…
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Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! It’s unusual for the Southern Resident Killer Whales to stay in the northern reaches of Georgia Strait, but they must have found some good fish to eat. Food is something they definitely have been in need of with their populations dwindling. J-Pod was the main family group with a few from possibly…
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Many Northern Resident Orca of G-Clan came down Johnstone Strait and through Discovery Passage. There were Transient Bigg’s Orca popping up in a variety of places at the same time. These species do not mix, and will, if they’re in the same channel, hug opposite shores to avoid confrontation. Reports of Orca without knowing who…
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A number of pods of Transient Orca have been sighted in our inland waters during the past week, and among them, the T101s, T137s, and T002Cs were identified. Many Humpbacks whales have been observed with a majority of them located in Sutil Channel between Cortes Island and Read Island. It appears that many of the…
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There has been an increase in the number of sightings of Transient Orca in our inland waters. One report indicated that a pod of Transient Orca were feeding, indicating that they had hunted, caught, and killed its prey whatever it may have been. Possible prey for Transients Orca include porpoise, dolphins, smaller baleen whales, seals,…
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The large refers to the high number of Humpback whales that are remaining in Sutil Channel between Read Island, Cortes Island, and Quadra Island. Many Humpbacks have been identified, with the whale “Niagara” (BCY0057) being observed most often. Of course, the Humpbacks themselves are large in size being as long as a bus. Pods of…
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Transient Orca were observed on a number of days. The Transient group T002C pod were roaming around quite a bit as they were in Discovery Passage last Wednesday, then in the Desolation Sound & Okeover Inlet area on Friday, and finally in Bute Inlet on Sunday. Thats all lot of mileage in a few days!…
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Transient Orca have been observed as far south as Salt Spring Island and as far north as Havannah Channel. On at least two different occasions, the Orca were seen hunting and capturing prey – one pod ate a dolphin and another pod ate a seal. A pod of Northern Resident Orca made a rare foray…
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The majority of sightings continue to be Humpback whales found in inland waters. Earlier in the week, a Humpback whale was found to be tangled up in some fishing gear off of Kinghorn Island in Desolation Sound and authorities were able to locate it and free it within a few hours. It is hoped that…
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Transient Orca, which eats mammals like seals and dolphins, were observed on successive days in three different areas. Last Thursday, Transient Orca were observed in Discovery Passage off Campbell River and in Menzies Bay, where they were seen hunting Dall’s porpoise. These Orca work cooperatively and are stealthy when hunting, which is a rare occurance…
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This report covers sightings between August 20th to the 22nd, with the majority of sightings being Humpback whales. However, many of Humpbacks have moved from the upper Georgia Strait and lower Sutil Channel area towards the area between Powell River and Comox. Transient (Biggs) Orca have been observed in some of the same areas where…
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Although some Orca reports have been coming in from the upper Johnstone Strait for Northern Resident Orca and a few Transient Biggs passing through and around the upper Georgia Strait, Humpback Whales seem to be the primary sightings reports. As of writing this, today’s count is up to 20 Humpbacks spread out in numbers ranging…
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Many pods of Pacific White-Sided Dolphins have been observed over the past few days in Johnstone Strait, Nodales Channel, and Discovery Passage. Both types of Orca have been reported. Transient (Biggs) Orca were seen off of Comox and in Howe Sound. The Northern Resident Orca made a rare foray last Monday all the way to…
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Humpback Whales continue to remain in the area and are spread out from the northern part of Georgia Strait up through Sutil Channel and Calm Channel. Many of them are solitary while others have formed small groups of 2-4 animals or even larger groups of 5-8 animals. A variety of behaviours have been displayed by…
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Humpback Whales are still the majority of our sightings reports as they spread out and group together for cooperative feeding and socializing. They still manage to stay mostly away from any of the Transient Biggs Orca that have also been through the inner waters. Northern Resident Orca made their way into Johnstone Strait to rub…
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This was a nailbiter, but the good news is that one of our favourite Humpback Whales ‘KC’ was finally found after a couple of days searching and looking back at his track through our Maps Archive for most likely locations to search. Did you realize that you can track animals too?! He was found at…
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In between finalizing this Sightings issue, we have also been assisting the whale disentanglement team through Dept. of Fisheries ensuring they have updated information on the extremely well known Humpback Whale known as Kelp Creature or ‘KC’ for short who spends much of his time in the Discovery Pass – Sutil Channel area. He had…
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