Photo: Breaching Southern Resident Orca Whale

An orca whale in Johnstone Strait in British Columbia, Canada breaches for the camera.

An orca whale breaches in the serene waters off Northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. This behaviour is a fairly common sight seen by whale watching tours.

An orca whale needs to be swimming at a high speed towards the surface to be able to perform such a breach. If an orca manages a few breaches in a row, you will notice that the first one may be a full breach while the following one(s) seem to be half breaches. It takes a lot of speed and power for an orca whale to break the surface with his whole body.

Nobody is sure why orca whales breach but if you are out on a whale watching trip and catch one of these magnificent mammals breaching, make sure you are ready with your camera.