HUMPBACKS OF THE HECATE
Fall feeding in Chatham Sound: Humpback whales gather near the entrance to the Port of Prince Rupert to cooperatively feed, creating bubble nets that concentrate their prey before the whales surge to the surface together.
Humpbacks of the Hecate is a long-term photographic and research project documenting the humpback whales of Hecate Strait, Dixon Entrance, and Chatham Sound along British Columbia's North Coast.
BCZ0056 – Mashed: A female humpback known to feed in the waters around Chatham Sound and southeastern Haida Gwaii, migrating to Hawaii during the breeding season.
Humpbacks of the Hecate (HWH) is a regional research initiative focused on humpback whales in the waters of Haida Gwaii, Dixon Entrance, and Chatham Sound in northern British Columbia. HWH is part of the broader Canadian Pacific Humpback Collaboration (CPHC), contributing to ongoing research and long-term monitoring of humpback whales along the BC coast.
HWH brings together research, photography, existing datasets, and community observations to better understand the humpback whales that use North Coast waters. Our work explores their distribution, behaviour, feeding strategies, and individual life histories, while also identifying and cataloguing gaps in sightings and research effort across the region.
Current research includes Heads Down, Tails Up, a project investigating flick-feeding, a specialized feeding behaviour observed in humpback whales in northern BC.
Summer bubble-net feeding at Work Channel: Humpback whales cooperatively bubble-net feeding near the mouth of Work Channel. This feeding behaviour is frequently observed in the area during the summer months, particularly in July and August.