Mark Hobson (Prints)

Every spring close to 22,000 grey whales pass the west coast of North America en-route from their breeding lagoons in Mexico to their main feeding grounds in the western Arctic’s Bering Sea. No other mammal in the world travels this far on a regular basis. Several dozen individuals however leave the migration journey at various locations along the way. In some years the west coast of Vancouver Island has had as many as 70 grey whales in separate bays spending their summer feeding before returning in the fall to rejoin the main population heading south. They are seen frequently in surprisingly shallow waters as is shown in this image of an individual forcing itself through the tangle of a kelp bed.