[06/04/2017 - Sea Lion 12pm Departure]
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Humpback whales in our area have been buddying up like crazy this year! While usually a solitary species, where long periods of solo adventuring time isn't unheard of, humpbacks have been known to make temporary associations, or whale acquaintances, when it's convenient or helpful for them.
In areas teeming with humpbacks, like Alaska and the gulf of Maine, dozens of humpbacks will work together to corral and feed on small schooling fish, blowing bubbles out of their blowholes in a constricting spiral around a school of herring or rubbing their noses into the sand to scare up sandlance while their associates reap the rewards. In the Salish Sea, our humpback whale population is so small (a mere 45 summer-long residents by last year's estimates), that cooperative behaviors such as these haven't yet been observed.
This season, however, we're seeing more and more humpbacks traveling with a buddy. Today it was Heather and Divot, two regulars in our waters from seasons past. The were swimming in synchronization, surfacing one after the other or simultaneously, and flunking out in unison to go on deeper dives. They were primarily heading north into the Canadian Gulf Islands, but occasionally would switch direction on a surfacing, meaning that they were possibly grabbing a snack on their way. These huge baleen whales have to eat about 1 ton of food a day to compensate for their fasting period all winter, so they have to take advantage of any good feeding locations they come across!
In addition to these two beauties, we also spotted sea lions, bald eagles, porpoises, and lots of seabirds like pigeon guillemots, cormorants, and glaucous winged gulls on our trip today. All in all, it was a superb day to be on the water.
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