The Hunting Trifecta in Alaska

    The hunting trifecta is an almost mythical goal to set for a trip to Alaska. This natural spectacle includes bubble net feeding humpback whales, bears catching salmon, and transient orcas taking down a marine mammal. Just seeing these three animals on one trip would be considered a lucky success. So you can imagine how surprised the crew of the Safari Quest was this week…when we got the hunting trifecta!

Orca High Resolution Pictures

  First on the list was the hardest and rarest of the trifect, hunting transient orca. Also known as killer whales because of their ability to kill other whales, this family of orca was hunting dall’s porpoise. We watched the speedy porpoise kicking up a rooster tail of water moments before a huge orca would appear right on its tail. The orca corralled the porpoise and let the young orcas chase them. They made it look almost too easy. The chase culminated in an orca exploding out of the water knocking the porpoise sideways in the process.

Here is a link to another one of my popular orca encounter post.

Bubble Netting Photos

  Next came the holy grail of whale watching in Alaska, bubble net feeding. This is when multiple humpbacks coordinate an attack on dense schools of bait fish, like herring. It is a hunting strategy that exhibits incredible social structure and intelligence and is most amazing to witness. After corralling the herring in a circle of underwater bubbles the whales rise to the surface in unison bursting forth with open mouths, gulping as much as 16,000gallons of prey-filled water before straining it through their baleen.

For more write-ups on humpback bubble net feeding check out these posts:

Hungry Humpbacks Back in Town

Bubble Netters in Frederick Sound

Whale Watch in Juneau with Bubble Netting

   The last event on the hunting trifecta can only be witnessed during the late summer months here in Alaska when the salmon start returning to the birth streams. The last gauntlet they face before making it up the cascades to their mating grounds is a line of hungry bears. We made a stop to tour a salmon hatchery at Hidden Falls on Baranof Island, one of the famous ABC islands of SE Alaska. Known for its population of brown bears we were not surprised to see several working the salmon stream. They would pick out the returning female salmon, instinctively knowing the nutritious value they contain in their thousands of eggs. As we watched a mother bear emerged from the forest and proceeded to teach her three cubs the art of salmon fishing. It was a fitting end to our hunting trifecta.

 Check out my most popular bear posts here.