Munching away

Grey whale makes stop near mouth of Squamish River.

“It’s quite surprising. It’s not completely out of the question, but this is not really the place where you would see them,” said Caitlin Birdsall, a research assistant with B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network.

Birdsall said the grey whales are usually seen this time of the year in Boundary Bay, White Rock, and off the west coast of Vancouver Island, as they migrate from Baja, Mexico to the Bering Sea. But with the abundance of fresh food in Howe Sound, the whale took a detour.

“This guy is off track a bit, but he has stumbled upon a great food source with herring spawn and it’s just munching away,” said Paul Cottrell, the marine mammal coordinator at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Cottrell said his department is keeping a close eye on the whale.