Otter Point/Gordon's Beach, British Columbia (2024-01-29): Our research team out of Otter Point received a report midafternoon of killer whales just offshore Gordon's Beach.

ORA - Oceanic Research Alliance researchers Josh McInnes and Chelsea Mathieson grabbed their camera gear and headed to our Otter Point shore observing station just in time to witness three transient killer whales make a kill on a Steller sea lion. The three whales milled and dove to feed, while large swarms of gulls and eagles picked up prey tissue and blubber at the surface.

They were able to identify the three transients as members of the T101 matrilineal group. The T101s are part of the inner west coast transient subpopulation and is composed of the matriarch T101 (born. ~1969), her first adult son T101A (born. 1993), and her second adult son T101B (born. 1997).

The T101s then continued offshore foraging, with each whale zig zagging and conducting long asynchronous dives. At 2:15 PM they moved further offshore, heading southeast.

Researchers: Josh McInnes and Chelsea Mathieson