Every year, we are noticing more and more Humpback whales in the Campbell River area. In the 2018 season, Sarah Hauser, one of our extraordinary guides, was able to document and ID 52 different Humpbacks with the help of Jackie Hildering and MERS.
You may be wondering how we are able to identify Humpback whales. If you take a close look at the photos, you can see that the underside of each fluke (tail) looks completely different. The colouring (amount of black/white), markings, and shape of the fluke are all factors that help identify which whale it is! Like the human fingerprint, there are no two flukes that are the same.
These are the whales Sarah identified:
- BCY0324 (Big Mama)
- BCY0291 (KC)
- BCY0324 calf 2016 (PopTart)
- BCXuk2013#1 (Cirque)
BCY0267 – Wilkinson - BCZ0298 (Split Fin)
- BCX0380 (Zorro)
- BCX0565 (Nick)
- BCX0565 calf 2018 (Zest)
- BCYuk2017#7 (Viking)
- BCYuk2016#10 (Pepper)
- BCX1258 (Crescent)
- BCXuk2012017#7 (Europa)
- BCYuk2015#2 (Chinnok)
- BCX0936 (Mantis)
- BCYuk2015#1 (Smiley)
- BCZ0338 (Geometry)
- BCXuk2012#3 (Spotlight)
- BCY0057 (Niagara)
- BCX0429 (Tag)
- BCZuk2017#3 (Hourglass)
BCY0057 – Niagara - BCYuk 2010#2 (Cassiopeia)
- BCZuk2012#3 (Lucky)
- BCY0070 (Gibbous)
- BCYuk2017 (Moray)
- BCYuk2013#1 (Glacier)
- BCYuk2014#3 (Donegal/Windy)
- BCX1057 (Divot)
- BCX1057 calf 2018 (Olympus)
- BCZuk2011 #4 (Guardian)
- BCY0785 (Mathematician)
- BCYuk2017#4 (Storm)
- BCYuk 2018#12
- BCY0027 calf 2016 (Linea)
- BCXuk2018#5 (Raza)
- BCZuk2016#4 (Jackson)
- BCX1068 (Split Fluke)
BCX0380 – Zorro - BCZuk2011#7 (Stingray)
- BCXuk2018#2 (SeaBird)
- BCXuk2018#7 (Double Drop)
- BCZuk 2013#4 (Anvil)
- BCY0267 (Wilkinson)
- BCYuk2016#15 (Potamus)
- BCXuk 2016#18
- BCXuk 2016#6 (Notcho)
- BCXuk 2018#1 (Harlequin)
- BCX1063 calf 2014 (Lorax)
- BCX0837 (Tempest)
- BCXuk 2018#3 (Flier)
- BCYuk 2017#5 (Solar)
- BCY0172 calf 2010 (Apollo)
- BCZ0004 (Stripe)
- BCYuk 2018 #12
Which Humpbacks have you seen while out on a tour?
We can’t wait to see how the numbers change in 2019!
Written by: Brianna England
