Coastal Cascade

Heather (BCY0160) the humpback gently slips beneath the surface as the cool waters cascade off her tail flukes. Humpbacks are identified using the markings on the underside of their tails. Heather got her name from a small H-shaped marking on her left fluke.

Jumping Juvenile

Barnacles and Tubercles: Part 1

Where the Light Can't Follow

A large humpback takes a deep dive from the sunlit surface to blue-black depths of the Salish Sea.

Tiny Tail Slaps

A baby humpback whale playfully slaps the water with its tail in what seemed like an attempt to wake up its restful mother.

Split Fin

Filter Feeding

This humpback is surfacing for air with its mouth full of food (perhaps krill or herring). The expanded pleats on its throat and water pouring out of its mouth indicate that it is feeding.

Baleen

Humpback whales are filter feeders and use long plates of keratin in their mouth, known as baleen plates, to filter small organisms out of the water. In this case, the humpback was lunge feeding at the surface with its mouth open allowing us to see straight into its mouth.

Rainblow