Vancouver and Vancouver, June 2022. Part 3.

The fifth day of our trip was dedicated to whale-watching! We were all excited, as no one had ever seen these iconic, magical giants of the deep. We set off early in the morning and arrived at a lovely pier, where a group of other whale-watchers were already gathering.

To be honest, I was even more exited than the others, because I saw this activity as a chance to see more pelagic birds. I was hoping to see more species of auks, perhaps some rare gulls and ducks.

So, our crowd was organized into group, briefed, put on the great-looking high-speed catamaran, and set off on a beautiful waters of Salish sea. The boat crew was looking for Humpback Whales - giant superstars of the whale family, who make their way through these waters on their long journey across the oceans.

Auks started to show up as soon as we took off. The most common of these were Pigeon Guillemots, which appeared singly or in pairs, never in flocks.

Actually, all of alcid species I met, were in small groups, with the only exception of Rhinoceros Auklets, which gathered in flocks of 10-15 birds, often accompanied by Surf Scoters (the next three images).

During this boat trip I saw a total of four species of alcids. Although, let's talk about that later, for now I want you to imagine yourself on the front deck of a high-speed catamaran, dressed in many layers of warm clothes, breathing in the salty ocean air and enjoying these incredible views!

So, in addition to the species mentioned before, I saw a pair of Marbled Murrelet and a single Common Murre - both were lifers!

And that's not the end of the story, among dozens of Glaucous-winged Gulls, we sailed past, I found at least one Western Gull, which was also a lifer for me!

This gull species has the mantle colour visually darker than Glaucous-winged Gull and black, not light-gray, primaries:

Also, at the end of the trip, I spotted two black waders on the rocks, and they became my fourth lifers of the day - Black Oystercatchers!

From time to time I saw Harlequin Ducks among the seaweed:

On the small islands - Harbor Seals:

We even spotted a sea lion twice!

Finally, we spotted whales! The first one was Minke Whale. This species of whales is not so big, but still cool enough!

And then the main target - a huge Humpback Whale, two of them! They were in a process of breathing in air. It looked like four or five brief appearances on the surface with the classic fountain, followed by short dives in between. After the last breath, they waved their giant tails and dove deep for a long time. It was absolutely amazing, I don't know what to add. After that we went back.

At this point, we'll take another break before returning with the final chapter!