Matrilines of May

The first week of May brought us multiple days of a myriad of matriline sightings! That sure was a mouthful! Bigg's (or "Transient") killer whales belong to a large community that breaks down into smaller sub-pods, or "matrilines," consisting of an adult female, her offspring and her adult offspring. Often these smaller pods will come together into larger groups and we can observe multiple matrilines at once.

The T075B's were joined by the T037's and the T034's heading north through Boundary Pass. The male T049A1 (pictured right) was not far behind.

Bonus sighting: A humpback mother and calf crossed their paths, and both species changed their directions to avoid each other.

In Rosario Straight we had quite the T-party! At least 8 different matrilines were sighted, including the T124A's, T034's, T037's, T075B's, T036's, T137's, T049A's and T087.

T087, nicknamed "Harbeson," is considered a "Lone Male." He sometimes travels alone, or joins up with relatives (as pictured above.) Born in approximately 1962, he is one of the oldest males in the Salish Sea, and is easily identified by the tip of his dorsal fin.

Finally, we had a sighting of three Humpback whales, one of which was Big Mama and her newest calf. This is the seventh calf she has brought into the Salish Sea over the years and is always an exciting thing to see. We hope you all had a fantastic Mother's Day!

Photos by Liberty