Lauren Fritz, Naturalist, M/V Sea Lion, 6/20/17, 1:30 pm & 5:30 pm tours
Anyone who's around me long enough has fallen victim to my ramblings about how amazing humpback whales are. I spend a significant portion of my year with these whales down in Maui, one of their main breeding grounds, so it's very exciting to see them up here in one of their feeding grounds as well! It's difficult not to marvel over the amazing migration of 2,500-3,000 miles that these whales make every year - all to reach the warm, predator-free waters of Mexico, Hawaii, and the Phillipines in order to birth their babies in peace. Baleen whales are known to typically have distinct feeding and breeding seasons and habitats, which is a very different lifestyle than we see of our killer whale and dolphin species in this area. We are certainly spoiled by the diversity of wildlife that we get to see up here in the San Juan Islands, and Naturalist Sarah and I were delighted to see two familiar humpbacks, Heather and Divot, up in the Strait of Georgia on our two whale watches today.
It is pretty phenomenal that we've been able to collect enough data to build a photo-ID catalog for the humpback whales that frequent these waters in the summer. Heather and Divot are frequently seen together, which is somewhat strange for humpback whales, as they tend to be rather solitary animals. Who knows? Maybe they enjoy each other's company! There's plenty we don't understand about these whales, so I definitely won't count any theory out. Regardless, Heather has a very distinct tail fluke - check out the photo below and compare it to Divot's, you'll definitely see some major differences. Variations in markings, colorations, scars, and shapes help us to identify these animals. It's a very non-invasive way to ID them and keep track of their movements instead of tracking them.
What a great way to spend a day on the water. Gorgeous weather, phenomenal sea conditions, and some amazing humpback sightings was the perfect way to bring in summer! Happy solstice, everybody!
Lauren Fritz, Whale Watch Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
