Our time in Canada is coming to an end, Vancouver is our last stop before heading home. We have a couple of days here for a bit of First Nations art and culture, getting a general feel for the place, and most important of all, our second dedicated whale watching trip. Georgia Straight is renown not only for seeing humpback whales, but also for its orca population and I have high hopes to finally see some of these fascinating animals.
Seals and Starfish
They only seem to be doing half day tours here, we have opted for a morning trip in a high speed RIB. As the boat makes its way out into the Straight of Georgia, we slow down alongside some rocky islets where several colonies of harbour seals are basking in the sun. Some lift their heads, curious about our interest in them.
Harbour seals can be brown, tan, silvery-white, grey or a combination of any of these and the individual animals usually have a unique pattern of spots. We are told by our guide that the population of harbour seals seems to be increasing, they tend to be and more common along the coastline.
The low tide has exposed large numbers of beautiful purple starfish clinging to the rocks that stand out against the more subtle colours of the seals. For some unknown reason the starfish had virtually dissapeared a number of years ago, but are once again found in numbers now.
The Whales of Georgia Straight
The boat speeds on, and we don’t take long before meeting our first humpback whales.
Unlike orcas who belong to the suborder of toothed whales, humpbacks are a species of baleen whale. Baleen bristles are made of keratin and, arranged in plates across the upper jaw, they essentially work like a giant filter. The whale opens its mouth to take in a maximum amount of water which is then pushed out through the baleens, retaining krill and fish for the whale to feed on.
Humpbacks have some of the most diverse and elaborate hunting techniques, such as various forms of bubble netting, a technique consisting in rounding up schools of fish by circling them at the same time as releasing bubbles. Once compacted into a tight ball and trapped in the visual and acoustic bubble barrier all the whales have to do is open their mouths. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the huge open mouths when they emerge like gigantic fish pools, ”our” whales were discretely feeding deep down, but clearly synchronising their dive to cooperate in the rounding up of schools of fish in the depths.
Once hunted to the brink of extinction humpback populations have been able to recover after the 1966 moratorium and their distinctive and spectacular surface displays make them particularly popular with whale watchers. Sadly none of the ones we saw were inclined to breaching or lob-tailing, but we did get a taste of pec slapping.
We also somehow missed out on the orcas, as far as I could see none of the whale watching companies managed to locate any during the time of our stay. We were told that the transient (migratory) groups, who should normally have arrived in the area by that time of the year, were late, and that the Southern resident (non-migratory) pods were slowly disappearing. As opposed to the transient orcas who hunt seals and other marine mammals, resident orcas feed exclusively on fish, salmon in particular. With the fish stocks dwindling and pollution increasing they are having more and more trouble finding food and scientists believe this to be part of the reason why their population is declining.
Wild Vancouver
We spent our final day in town exploring the huge 405 hectare Stanley Park bordering Vancouver downtown. Needless to say I could have spent a lot more time wandering around the interior of the park, rather than just following the waterfront pedestrian path, but even in the little time we had, we had some great surprise encounters. Gulls and herons are very common, less so the charming family of raccoons we were able to observe for a good while at one of the lakes.
Raccoons are common in certain parts of France, but I have never seen any in the wild. As we walk past the tail end of the lake I notice movement amongst the thicket of reeds and brambles across the water. Then a characteristic little black and white furry head pops out inbetween the leaves. Hanging onto a branch and using its long stripey black and white tail to balance itself, the raccoon is trying to reach a few left-over blackberries dangling above the water.
Suddenly there is more movement in the reeds below. 3 young raccoons start playing at the end of the big tree trunk that spans the tail end of the lake like a bridge.
They have spotted me, or rather my bag and 2 of them decide to investigate. Before I know it they are at my feet, next to my bag, take a quick sniff, dismiss it as of no interest, (no food) and scamper back across the trunk to the other side. All this took no more than a few seconds and of course they were too close for focus!
Weaving their way in and out of the reeds we watch them play and swim for a while before they finally disappear in the lush green aquatic maze.
Being face to face with one (or two) of these adorable bundles of fur would no doubt melt anybody’s heart and it is easy to forget that raccoons are also highly adaptable, voracious omnivores and as such have become a problem in a lot of places outside their historic range. Originally a species native to North America, raccoons were introduced into Europe for fur farming and as pets. After deliberate releases and escapes their population in the wild is now thriving, to a point where they have been classed as an invasive species and present a threat to fragile ecosystems and some indigenous wildlife already struggling to survive. In some European countries they are classed as pests and are being hunted – a sad fate for such an endearing animal who is not the one to blame….
My favourite Canadian wildlife images can be viewed in the gallery section.