Filming Conger the Humpback Whale – Planet Earth III

Can you imagine what our team felt when we heard Sir David Attenborough say the name of Conger the Humpback Whale? That happened when episode 7 (Human) of the BBC’s Planet Earth III aired in Europe on December 3rd. Sir David said the name of Conger, a whale we nicknamed in 2009, the first year we ever saw him (Conger’s catalogue designation is BCY0728).

We worked with the BBC in 2021 and 2022 to film the Humpbacks who return to feed around northeast Vancouver Island in the Territory of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw (the Kwak̕wala-speaking Peoples). The hope is that the global reach of Planet Earth III will lead to significant positive action for conservation.

That moment when David Attenborough said “Conger” was the culmination of so many years where we have worked to increase understanding of the whales as individuals. Who they are – their life histories, feeding strategies, habitat use, relationships, and how they are impacted by threats such as collision and entanglement. In our education efforts, we speak about who the whales are, using their nicknames, to create connection and care about them as individuals. Conger is nicknamed for an eel-like marking on the underside of his tail; a shape like Conger Eel.

The main conservation message of the Planet Earth III segment featuring the Humpbacks we study was about the importance of individual whales – that every large whale helps life on Earth by sequestering approximately 33 tons of carbon from the atmosphere (the equivalent of 30,000 trees).

But . . . why Conger?
Why, of all the Humpback Whales from whom we have learned and who were filmed by the BBC, was Conger the lead ambassador? Many other whales also return to the area near northeastern Vancouver Island to feed and we would also be able to anticipate and interpret their behaviour for the film crew.

It’s because Conger was the first whale we ever saw trap-feeding. This feeding behaviour had never been seen anywhere else in the world with any other Humpback before we documented it in 2011 with Conger. This is what initially drew the attention of the BBC. We published on trap-feeding and continue to document which whales learn this behaviour.

So it was Conger who was the whale who we most often focussed on (literally) with the film crew. Filming him using this new feeding strategy would lead to talking about the importance It was important to get footage of him trap-feeding and lunge-feeding. See here for the difference in those behaviours.

But, very unexpectedly, it became extremely challenging to film Humpbacks feeding near the surface in September 2021. This was NOT because of Conger. Rather, there was an “intrusion” of a species of bird that changed things. Short-tailed Shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris) came into the area in the thousands. Commonly, they are in huge numbers further to the north. But this had never been documented before around northeast Vancouver Island.

How did they change the dynamics of Humpback feeding? The diving bird species that are usually in the area, namely Common Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets, coral juvenile Herring near the surface into a big ball. Gulls also try to snatch the Herring being pushed to the surface by these diving birds. Humpbacks target these “Herring balls” – engulfing the ball when they lunge-feed. Or, if the Herring are in a less concentrated aggregation, the whales might trap-feed.

However, the Shearwaters “bomb” the juvenile Herring at the surface, splitting up the ball and driving the Herring deeper. Thereby, there was far less feeding at the surface by Humpbacks.

This led to us having the joy of a second session of filming with the BBC. In 2022, in the absence of Short-tailed Shearwaters, abundant Humpback feeding was filmed. We spent so much time observing Conger with the film crew when they were using a drone to capture his behaviour, that we laughingly referenced that we were often “in a Conger line” (a word play on being in a conga line).  

Conger feeding in an area with significant large vessel traffic.

With Conger being such a powerful ambassador for whales, their sentience, and how they contribute to life on Earth, he is now one of our sponsorship whales. Through sponsorship, you get a detailed backgrounder about Conger, receive updates about him, and support our work to reduce threats to the whales. Please learn more about our Humpback sponsorship program at this link.

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Related links:

• The Making of Planet Earth III – A second chance with giants: Learning from humpback whales
• How we nickname and catalogue Humpback Whales
• Trap-feeding – our research paper with videos
• How you can help the whales, wherever you are
• Our Humpback Whale sponsorship program

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Episode 7 of Planet Earth III “Human” also airs on :

• December 16, 2023 via BBC America
• April 21, 2024 in Canada

On the production we worked with:

• Fredi Devas, producer, whose work includes BBC’s “Seven Worlds One Planet”, Planet Earth II “Cities”, and “Frozen Planet”.
• Bertie Gregory, film-maker whose work includes BBB’s “Seven Worlds One Planet”, and star of National Geographic’s “Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory”.
• Hayes Baxley, cinematographer whose work includes Emmy award-winning “Secrets of the Whales” (Disney +).
• Tavish Campbell, dear friend of MERS and a BC cinematographer deeply dedicated to conservation on our coast.

A Humpback With 11 Birds in His Mouth?

A Humpback With 11 Birds in His Mouth?
Humpback Whales and Their Bycatch

Over the years we at MERS have documented several cases of Humpback Whale bycatch; that is other animals that inadvertently end up in their mouths. This often occurs because Humpback Whales approach dense schools of Pacific Herring at great speed while other species are also feeding on them.

Juvenile Pacific Herring being pushed to the surface by Common Murres (diving birds) feeding on them from below. Gulls feeding on the Herring from above.

The other animals can thereby end up engulfed with the Herring. Then what happens? Consider that anything the size of a Gull or larger cannot be swallowed since the throats of Humpbacks are narrow and because, as baleen whales, they do not have teeth for chewing prey into smaller pieces.

We’ve previously shared the footage below of a Pacific Harbour Seal escaping from the mouth of a trap-feeding Humpback Whale. 

Video by Gord Thompson and Dennis and Stephanie Parsons.

We’ve also documented Humpback Whales opening their mouths to release birds like Common Murres. See photos below of a Common Murre escaping from Guardian the Humpback Whale’s mouth.

On many occasions, we have also documented bycaught Gulls. The afternoon of October 18th was no exception. 

From our research vessel Merlin we noticed in the distance an adult Humpback we know as Backsplash lunge feed at the surface on a large school of Herring that was being fed on from below the surface by Common Murres and from above by Herring and California Gulls.

When we arrived about three minutes later Backsplash was slowly circling the remains of the school of Herring and then lunged on it again, effectively capturing all or most of the remaining fish that were left over from the first lunge. Seconds later Backsplash opened his mouth at the surface, vigorously shook his upper jaw and 11 Gulls came floating up to the surface.

By-caught Gulls discarded from Backsplash’s mouth. Note the Herring scales on the surface. Photo ©Jared Towers, MERS. 

We approached the scene and could see all Gulls were completely saturated – 9 appeared dead (from impact or drowning), and 2 were clinging to what appeared to be their last moments alive. We immediately grabbed the two survivors, both immature Herring Gulls, and wrapped them in a dry towel that I happened to have aboard.

Elysanne Durand drying and warming the two immature Herring Gulls. ©Jared Towers, MERS.

We then noticed that one of the birds we previously thought was dead was resting itself on the floating body or another. There was no room in the towel for this bird, a young California Gull, so I texted our colleagues at nearby OrcaLab on Hanson Island and we raced over for some support.

Gulls that had been in Backsplash’s mouth. Photo ©Jared Towers, MERS.

Moments later we were met on shore with towels and over the next little while dried off the birds while sitting next to the wood stove. We ended up leaving one of the Herring Gulls and the California Gull with our friends at OrcaLab and took the other Herring Gull back home to Alert Bay.

John Totterdel picking up the immature California Gull. Photo ©Jared Towers, MERS..

Once completely dry all birds were released at the shoreline. They each took to the water and then the sky, although the final fate of the poor California Gull is apparently unknown because it subsequently escaped attack by a Bald Eagle but then moved out of sight while the hunt was still in progress, as if being captured by a Humpback Whale wasn’t already enough!

I’m a strong believer that we should always be conscious of our impact on the environment and its inhabitants and this often means not interfering in interactions between predators and prey. However, in a case such as this where the by-product of a feeding predator happens to be some incidentally captured Gulls I have always felt compelled to help out, even though the Gulls typically appear resentful and aggressive as soon as they are warm and dry again.

JT

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Read more:

• • Research paper on the ingestion of smaller bird species by Humpback Whales – Haynes, T. B., Campbell, M. A., Neilson, J. L. & López, J. A. Molecular identification of seabird remains found in humpback whale feces. Mar Ornithol 41, 161–166 (2013).
  • National Geographic article on bycatch by Humpbacks – National Geographic, July 30, 2019, How a humpback whale ended up with a sea lion in its mouth

Photo used with permission – Chase Dekker Wild-Life Images. Read about this Humpback Whale and sea lion encounter at this link.

“Trap-Feeding” – a new Humpback feeding strategy

[Last update: November 2023]

Our research on Humpback Whale trap-feeding has been published in Marine Mammal Science.

We first documented this novel feeding strategy for 2 individuals around northeast Vancouver Island in 2011. As of November 2023, we know of 32 Humpback Whales who have learned to use this strategy under specific conditions. 

Trap-feeding is where some Humpbacks set a trap for juvenile herring when juvenile herring are in small, diffuse schools. 

The fish then collect near, or in, the mouth of the Humpback to escape predation by diving birds (most often Common Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets).

The Humpbacks then spin and/ or use their pectoral flippers to push the fish into their mouths. This feeding strategy uses less energy than when Humpbacks lunge-feed on greater concentrations of juvenile herring.

Trap-feeding compared to lunge-feeding. Graphic: Uko Gorter.

Humpbacks are also well known for  “bubble-net feeding”. With this strategy, teams of whales work together to coral fish and this includes a member of the team blowing a net of bubbles to stop the fish from escaping.

This is not a strategy employed by Humpbacks around northeast Vancouver Island as the current would dissipate the bubbles. It is a used by Humpbacks around BC’s central coast and further to the north.  Only occasionally will individual Humpback Whales around northeast Vancouver Island use bubbles to coral fish (not teams) when there is no current i.e. on slack tide or in a back eddy.

MERS’ research supports that the Humpbacks of northeastern Vancouver Island are lunge-feeding specialists on juvenile herring, with some of the whales having learned this new feeding strategy –  “trap-feeding” when the fish are in smaller, less concentrated schools.

When the whales are trap-feeding, it is often very difficult to see their dorsal fins or flukes to identify them. This has led to our compiling a catalogue of their mouths so that we can identify them by the distinctive markings on their jaws.

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To contact MERS for more information about trap-feeding, please email info@mersociety.org. 

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Abstract from: McMillan, C. J., Towers, J. R. and Hildering, J. (2018), The innovation and diffusion of “trap‐feeding,” a novel humpback whale foraging strategy. Mar Mam Sci. . doi:10.1111/mms.12557

“The innovation and diffusion of novel foraging strategies within a population can increase the capacity of individuals to respond to shifts in prey abundance and distribution. Since 2011, some humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) off northeastern Vancouver Island (NEVI), Canada, have been documented using a new feeding strategy called “trap‐feeding.” We provide the first description of this foraging innovation and explore the ecological and social variables associated with its diffusion using sightings data, video analysis, and logistic regression modeling. The number of humpback whales confirmed to trap‐feed off NEVI increased from two in 2011 to 16 in 2015. Neither the locations of trap‐feeding sessions nor prey species consumed differed from those documented during lunge‐feeding. However, preliminary results indicate that the schools of fish consumed when individuals trap‐fed were smaller and more diffuse than those consumed when whales lunge‐fed. Top‐ranked models predicting whether an individual would be observed exhibiting trap‐feeding behavior included the following parameters: average number of days per year that the individual was seen off NEVI and proportion of the individual’s associations that were with other trap‐feeders. These results suggest that trap‐feeding may be a culturally transmitted foraging innovation that provides an energetically efficient method of feeding on small, diffuse prey patches.”

Below:
Video of trap-feeding where a seal escapes from the Humpback’s mouth.

Below:
Compilation of MERS trap-feeding footage.

Trap-Feeding – A new Humpback feeding behaviour!

Please see update of this blog at this link.

How Important Are Herring to Humpback Whales?

Update: Read the research paper resulting from Christie’s research at this link. :

Each spring, humpback whales in the eastern North Pacific Ocean travel from warm waters off Hawaii or Mexico up to the cooler, temperate waters off B.C. and Alaska.  What brings them back up here is food; the tropical and sub-tropical areas where humpback whales mate and give birth during winter have very little food for whales, so humpbacks must obtain almost all the energy they need for a year’s worth of activity while they are in our cold, rich waters during the summer and fall.

Humpbacks feed on krill (small crustaceans), as well as small, schooling fish such as herring and sandlance.  Off B.C., however, it is not yet known how important different prey species are to humpbacks, or to what extent individual humpback whales may specialize on specific foraging locations and prey types.

In some areas, krill (these small crustaceans) make up a large proportion of humpback whale diet

In eastern Queen Charlotte Strait, herring congregate in dense schools, locally known as “bait balls”, during the late summer and fall.  Humpback whales in this area appear to specialize on herring during this time, targeting bait balls and lunge-feeding on them.  As part of my Master’s research through Simon Fraser University, I am working on estimating how much of humpback whales’ energetic requirements are obtained from feeding on these herring.

Humpback whale “Guardian” lunge-feeding on herring

To help answer these questions, I need to estimate how often humpback whales are feeding on herring, and how much herring they consume each time they feed.  To predict how often humpback whales are feeding, I first identify a whale as an individual, and then watch it for an hour and record each time that it feeds and what type of prey it eats (tracking animal behaviour in this way is called “focal following”).  To figure out how much herring they eat during each feeding event, I have been taking underwater video of herring bait balls.  By also measuring the size of the herring in the bait ball, I can use their actual size, compared with their size on the video, to estimate the dimensions and therefore the volume of the bait balls.  By combining the results of the focal follows and bait ball videos with an energetic model for humpback whales, I can predict what proportion of the energy requirements of these humpbacks are provided by the herring bait balls that they are feeding on.

The results of my research will have implications for managing humpback whale populations.  Although human impacts such as overfishing and habitat degradation may not be sufficient to affect humpback whale prey species at the population level, they may cause depletion of these species on a local scale.  It is not yet understood whether B.C. humpback whales have the ability to easily switch to a different prey source and foraging location if availability of their preferred prey declines, so it is possible that local prey depletion may have impacts on humpback whales that feed in B.C.

A humpback whale breaching off the west coast of Vancouver Island

This summer will be my second field season of gathering the information that I need to estimate how important these herring are to humpback whales in eastern Queen Charlotte Strait. Huge thanks to everyone who has helped out with and supported this study so far, especially Stacey Hrushowy, Jared Towers, and Jackie Hildering.

Click here to learn more about MERS humpback whale research, or here to donate to MERS’ work.  Also, please feel free to e-mail me at mersociety@gmail.com with any questions.

~ Christie