Wishing You a Whale of a Time During the Holidays!
All of us at Whales and Dolphins BC / Wild Ocean Whale Society (WOWs) would like to wish you and yours the very best for the Holidays. An extra huge thank you to all who report sightings and help support our efforts. We couldn’t do it without you!
There have been few reports and even those of us who are constantly on the look out have seen minimal activity. It is a big ocean but these whales, dolphins and porpoise are out there … somewhere. These huge tides have been producing a fair bit of debris in the water. The debris occasionally looks like a possible sighting from a distance. Watching for a few moments for a blow or movement usually clarifies if it’s just debris or a resting animal.
In the report below we have a good example of why everyreport is valuable. One person may only see one or two animals where another person sees six or seven. We’re often told, after the fact, that someone must have already reported the sighting, which isn’t always the case. This makes attempting to get identification of specific animals difficult. Another bit of information, which can sometimes help us determine who the animals are, is any distinctive markings or number of big dorsals (adult male Orca) versus small ones in the pod. We also like to hear when animals change direction. This is helpful in understanding current foraging habits. For most of these Cetaceans it is about the food as they transit areas. For Resident Orca, it’s fish; for Transient Bigg’s Orca, it’s about meat; for baleen whales such as Humpback and Minke Whales, it’s krill and small fish; for Dolphins and Porpoise, it’s fish as well as staying clear of Transient Bigg’s who hunt them as well as seals or sea lions. As you can understand, every report is valuable!
Susan MacKay & Lynne Cracknell, Whales and Dolphins BC
For our DONATE page click here.
Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?
Every sighting report is valuable!
UNIDENTIFIED KILLER WHALES
(presumably Transient Bigg’s)
December 17:
8:52 am We’ve just seen 3 Orca heading south. Just off from Myrtle Rocks.
John & Wendy Heathcote, Powell River
Dec 17:
9:00 am: 6-7 Orca including 2-3 big males southbound by Myrtle Rocks, Powell River. They’re just steadily on the move. One big male was in the lead quite a bit ahead of the others.
Jim Southern, Powell River.
HARBOUR PORPOISE
December 13:
12 pm As we often do see, five or six Harbour Porpoise foraging in the rip between the Hump (south of Cape Mudge) and Willow Point.
Bill Kennedy, Campbell River
LINKS
Information on previously undocumented acoustic exchanges between Humpback whales, and how they cooperate with each other when searching for food in the dark:
Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?
Every sighting report is valuable!
We are the non-profit Wild Ocean Whale Society
For our DONATE page click here.
One Response
I wish everyone at BC Whales and Dolphins a very Merry Christmas.
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