New Baby Transient Orca !
Very busy Orca day! But the biggest news is that of a new Orca birth. A brand new Transient Orca calf which was possibly mere hours old. The Transient Orca population is certainly doing well. Nature is taking her course in keeping the number of seals and sealions down by increasing these meat eating Killer Whale numbers. It’s sad that they do also take Pacific White Sided Dolphins, Dall’s and Harbour Porpoise as well as other whales, but it is Nature in the raw.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
Transient Orca – Bigg’s Killer Whales
Baby Transient Orca!
July 21, 2012
Nick Templeman, Eagle Eye Adventures
(NT Photography)
July 21:
7:30 am Call came in over the radio that there were some Transient Orca by Hall Point at the top of Nodales Channel. No number or direction.
Fishing boat
July 21:
7:40 am Relayed message: 6 Orca headed down Nodales Channel.
Nick Templeman, Eagle Eye Adventures
July 21:
8:50 am Found them! They were headed into Hemming Bay, across from Thurston Bay Marine Park, in Nodales Channel but didn’t stay long. They tracked behind Lee Islands and continued relatively quickly down and into Johnstone Strait. The various Whale Watching boats out of Campbell River joined up to observe these Orca for a time. At times they were moving up to 10 knots with the tide! I stayed with them right as they caught the slack tide at Race and Current Passage and left them a bit after 1 pm just below Yorke Island still heading West up Johnstone Strait. It was difficult to say how many were in the group since some appeared to split off, but there were 4 Orcastaying close together and definitely another two that meandered off somewhere, then rejoined, then separated. At the speed they were going and the long dives they took at times, I was surprised that the four Orca even stayed true on course….my direction. After I left them behind a ways…..see Northern Resident Orca report.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
July 21:
12:25 pm (via notes from various radio transmissions) As Garry, with his tour was making his way up towards Earl’s Ledge, by Kelsey Bay to join up with Nick, the last of the tour boats, and myself, he happened across 3 or 4 Orca by Tyee Point, bottom of Current Passage, with "the smallest calf I’ve ever seen". There were two females (T046 and T122 ID’s from Nick) helping the calf along in front of them, which leads us to believe that it truly was a newborn. It has a wrinkled appearance and is quite orange…..Photos! And Tiny! These whales headed slowly East down Johnstone Strait.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys & Nick Templeman, Eagle Eye Adventures
Baby Transient Orca – so tiny!
July 21, 2012
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
July 21:
3:57 pm Orca by Mace Point, East end of Savary Island facing Lund. No numbers or direction given.
Gordie Coles, Savary Island / Lund
July 21:
6:55 pm 4 Orca and tiny calf Southbound into Denham Bay by Dent Rapids following 30 + Pacific White Sided Dolphins.
Aaron Nagler, Sonora Lodge
July 21:
7 pm 6 or so Transient Orca that I left by Yorke Island, Sunderland Channel had made their way up by Boat Bay quickly and were continuing West. Thanks to Jared Towers, of DFO who managed to get out to see and identify four of the whales as the T065A’s.
SM
Northern Resident Orca
July 21:
Around 12 pm The 2 Northern Resident Orca, A36’s were Eastbound down Johnstone Strait by Adam River.
Bill Mackay, Naiad Explorer
July 21:
Around 1:21 pm After I left the Transient Orca behind a bit, I came across the two A36 brothersworking their way East down Johnstone Strait just across from Millie Island, Port Neville. These two seemed a bit undecided for a while as to where they wanted to go. Perhaps they heard the Transients, who outnumbered them, coming up the Strait. At 1:32 pm they turned to head back West up Johnstone Strait. I left them behind as they were moving slowly and I was cutting across the Strait.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
Pacific White Sided Dolphins
9:46 am 75 + PWS Dolphins by Thurston Bay Marine Park heading up Nodales towards Hall Point. There are a lot of really small baby Dolphins in the mix. Under 1 foot long!
Scotty, Painter’s Lodge
July 21:
4:30 pm 50 PWS Dolphins in Denham Bay, by Dent Rapids.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
July 21:
6:55 pm 4 Orca and tiny calf Southbound into Denham Bay by Dent Rapids following 30 + Pacific White Sided Dolphins.
Aaron Nagler, Sonora Lodge
Baby Transient Orca – First ID shot!
July 21, 2012
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
Dall’s Porpoise
July 21:
8:30 am Couple of Dall’s Porpoiseforaging off Sonora Point in Nodales Channel.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
2 Responses
Wow! Great that you had the chance of seeing the newborn Bigg's killer whale! I have to say though, about the post written by Susan MacKay at the top of the of the page, it isn't really "sad" that "meat-eating killer whales" are hunting dolphins, porpoises and other whales. If you're looking at it from the point of view that Bigg's killer whales hunting seals and sea lions is keeping seal and seal lion populations down, how is that any different from Bigg's killer whales keeping dolphin, porpoise, and whale populations in check? Are you saying that dolphins, porpoises and whales have more right to be on this planet than seals or sea lions? The Bigg's killer whales have to eat too. I'd like to relate what you've said to resident killer whales. Imagine saying that it's sad that resident killer whales are eating chinook salmon because chinook salmon have more of a right to be on this planet than say chum or pink salmon. Sounds a little ridiculous, doesn't it? Well, it's the same idea with Bigg's killer whales. It's nature in the raw. 🙂
Dear Anonymous,
Ridiculous? No, not at all. Nature in the raw is never ridiculous. It is sad when any animal is killed, and we as humans are the worst offenders. Don't get me wrong, I am not a vegetarian, so I fall into the same category as one of the worst offenders. I, as one of the many of us worst offenders, do not kill for sport, nor do I torture then abandon my food, nor do I eat my relatives. Unfortunately, Transient Orca – Bigg's Killer Whales do. Yes it is sad. Because seals are small, they usually are dispatched rather quickly, mercifully. As for Sealions, as frequently as they are eaten, they are just as frequently tortured and abandoned to die. Whether it's keeping any populations in check or not, it is sad. Porpoises frequently are thrown about, perhaps the whale's method to tenderize? Porpoises are also on the “of concern” endangered species list. Dolphins, well, Orca whether Transient or Resident are actually Dolphins, need I say more? Of the other Whales Transients kill, apart from taking a long time to kill them, some are on the endangered species list. Is that not a sad thing? Now regarding the fish that the Resident Orca eat, whether it's halibut, salmon, herring or any other type of fish, since they do eat other fish, not just Chinook salmon, death is not torturous. In one bite, the fish is out of any misery.
If I made it sound that Dolphins or Porpoise have more rights to be around than seals or sealions, that was not my intention. My train of thought was of the fishermen I have been listening to who are extremely happy about the reduction in seal and sealion populations. Is that a sad thing or is that ridiculous?
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
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