Killer Whales

I was out in British Columbia for meetings this past March when I photographed these killer whales from the rocky headland at Pipers Lagoon, Nanaimo British Columbia (Vancouver Island). They have been identified, by one of my colleagues here at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as members of one of the transient West Coast pods that feed on marine mammals including: Seals, Sea Lions, porpoises, dolphins and whales.

"Resident" Killer Whales pods feed almost exclusively on salmon and occassionally herring.

Pipers Lagoon always seems to bring my luck. This was a pretty exciting find early in the morning before going into work!

1. Female and 2. Mother and calf

nice shots

Very cool, great stuff!

rick_reno wrote in post #14431044
nice shots

Thanks Rick.

Wallace River wrote in post #14431142
Very cool, great stuff!

Thank you too Ian.

My wife and I were down at Eden on the far south coast of NSW Australia last week hoping to spot some of these majestic animals, but alas we were a few months early. So you can imagine how much I enjoyed looking at these photos!

Nice shots!

fotoworx wrote in post #14431574
My wife and I were down at Eden on the far south coast of NSW Australia last week hoping to spot some of these majestic animals, but alas we were a few months early. So you can imagine how much I enjoyed looking at these photos!

Jim thanks for commenting. We had been watching two other pods off in the strait about 500-600 meters away and didn't expect to see 4 more of these beauties swim right by us.

cmozz wrote in post #14432444
Nice shots!

Cmozz thank you.

Well done! Great eyepatch shots! Must have been a thrill to see them and have a photo opp.

Nice images and I like hearing the story behind it all, too.

Trique Daddi wrote in post #14433943
Well done! Great eyepatch shots! Must have been a thrill to see them and have a photo opp.

Trique Daddi thank you.

Naturalist wrote in post #14433948
Nice images and I like hearing the story behind it all, too.

Thank you too Doug.