VANCOUVER — A BC wildlife photographer hunting for birds off the coast of Vancouver’s Stanley Park instead captured a memorable image of another animal in flight — an orca leaping from Burrard Inlet.
VANCOUVER — A BC wildlife photographer hunting for birds off the coast of Vancouver’s Stanley Park instead captured a memorable image of another animal in flight — an orca leaping from Burrard Inlet.
Frank Lin says he was leading a group of volunteers conducting a waterfowl survey for the Stanley Park Ecology Society last week when a team member spotted a whale off Brockton Point.
Lin and the others rushed to shore and photographed a group of five orcas repeatedly breaching the surface.
Lin, 28, has had an Instagram account dedicated to wildlife imagery since 2016, but he says he’s never seen orcas enter Vancouver’s urban waters.
Andrew Trites, director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Oceans and Fisheries, says the whales seen by Lin were transient orcas and he believes their appearances will increase near Vancouver.
According to Trites, harbor seal populations have increased in recent decades, with many congregating in waters near Stanley Park.
He says harbor seals are a major food source for the transient orcas, and the pods are increasingly being drawn to the seals in Vancouver waters.
Trites says boaters need to “keep their eyes peeled” to avoid a catastrophic collision as orcas appear more frequently in crowded waterways.
Lin says his team was “stunned” by the sighting on February 10, and he told them they were “privileged to see this opportunity.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on February 15, 2023.
The Canadian Press
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