EncDate:16/01/23 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:2

ObservBegin:03:40 PM

ObservEnd:04:09 PM

Vessel:Mike 1

Staff:Mark Malleson

Other Observers:Joe Zelwietro

Pods:Transients

LocationDescr:Victoria's waterfront

Start Latitude:48 24.35

Start Longitude:123 24.77

 

EncSummary:

Mark and Joe had completed a survey of the central Juan de Fuca, finding just a few scattered humpback whales near Sooke, BC, and were nearing home when a single killer whale appeared on the horizon, just south of Saxe Point! They started the encounter within a half nautical mile of Victoria's harbour entrance at 1540.
The solitary whale was fairly non-descript, but appeared to be a sub-adult Bigg’s male. After a few breaths he dove, revealing a sliver of saddle patch giving him away as T060D. T060D and his younger brother T060E dispersed from their natal group just before the birth of their youngest sibling T060G in mid-2019, and have for the most part travelled apart from the family since. After a few minutes of scanning for the younger animal, Mark spotted him about 250 meters inshore of T060D. Both animals were plodding east, and remained apart for the duration of the encounter. While T060D swam under a large gathering of sea birds, presumably through a bait ball, but no predation was observed. The Mike 1 crew ended the encounter at 1609 while the pair continued east bound towards Trial Island.