Live and active Orca feeding was sighted in The Patch today as an enormous Orca spy hop greeted us shortly after our arrival. Firstly attracting our attention was the huge cloud of Shearwaters, Albatross and Storm Petrels hovering above an extremely large oil slick that spread out over 300 meters and the distinctive smell indicated a possible Beaked Whale hunt had just completed. The Orca began to appear as one by one they surfaced, all 40+ of them! The hunt had been a success and everyone was sharing the meal with beautiful behaviours sighted including spy hopping, calves breaching and a few tail slaps as well. A very exciting morning and reward for the hard work the Orca have been putting into their foraging over the last week with not much reward.
Watching carefully as Dot carried a large piece of pinkish flesh in her mouth, little Grace swam straight up to her and gently held onto the other end and tried to give it a good tug. Already she is starting to understand the life of an Orca and although she wont be eating solid foods for a further four months, she is already starting to get a taste for the families specific diet. Suddenly, the Pilot Whales surged towards the Orca and it was almost as if they had come barreling into a dinner party, the Orca quickly regrouped and dispersed seemingly a little surprised by the confident approach of 60+ Pilot Whales. Eventually, it was the Orca’s turn to surge towards the Pilots and in the afternoon Queen and her family pod regrouped and pushed to the west as the Pilots shuffled back east.
