Transient Orca Whales At Hein Bank!
The T-30 group was sighted today by the Island Explorer 3! Stay tuned to the Whale Report for details on our adventure from Naturalist Kate Janes!! "We hadn't even left the marina when we saw our first wildlife of our journey!! Just outside the breakwater 2 Common Loons were seen diving for their lunch as we continued towards the point! Alongside Cap Sante Point our guests enjoyed looks at a mature Bald Eagle perched high in a snag! The day progressively got better as we enjoyed a rare sighting of a Brown Pelican in Bellingham Channel, a swimming Steller's Sea Lion, 2 Black-tail Deer feeding on Boulder Island, Red-necked Grebes, 3 Great Blue Herons, over 20 Marbled Murreletts, hundreds of Common Murres, Western Grebes, Rhinoceros Auklets, Harbor & Dall's Porpoise quickly swimming through the icy water! We ventured through the glassy water of the Strait of Juan de Fuca towards Hein Bank where we found a group of Transient Orcas!! A group of 4 Orcas swam milling about changing directions frequently!! When we first arrived on scene the male was traveling in close proximity to a female and a small calf with one female traveling towards San Juan Island on her own! We watched their short respiration cycles as their exhalations lingered only moments before dissipating! Then on their long deep dive we watched guessing where they would next appear! Even on their deep dives they never seemed to travel too far from their last surfacing as they continued slowly making their way around Hein Bank! Our last visit with the Orcas gave us great looks after the 4 reunited swimming along our port side!! On our way back towards the dock we stopped at Castle Rock where we saw Harbor Seals hauled out on the rocks, Great Blue Herons, and even a Belted Kingfisher patrolling its rocky territory!!" - Naturalist Kate Janes
posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 4:01 PM
0 Comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home