Whale Watching Report

Wow! A Humpback Whale in May? You never know what nature will show you each day!! Stay tuned to the Whale Report for details on the sighting of two species of whales from Naturalist Jami Nagel! "Our 11 am trip we headed out finding our first gray whale feeding in the river delta just east of Hat Island. We watched him feed for awhile and then headed to the south end of Whidbey Island. That is where we encountered a juvenille Humpback whale!! We had our first double header (2 diffent types of whales) of the season! The humpback was feeding in a tide line just SE of Whidbey. We also saw bald eagles, western grebes, harbor seals, California sea lions and a large raft of Pacific Loons!" " Our evening trip was treated to some sunshine and 3 gray whales! The first 2 were in shore just north of Everett. We watched them for awhile then headed north to our third whale in Tulalip bay just off Port Susan. After leaving this whale we headed over and checked out several bald eagles and the eagles nest at the south end of Camano Island. As we headed back toward Everett we encountered our fourth Gray whale, #49 Patch. "

We started out our day sighting at least one gray whale before we even left the dock, thanks to Mark's steady hand with the binoculars. A few moments later we saw three immature bald eagles on Jetty Island, and two California sea lions hauled out on their favorite green marker. We made our way toward two gray whales hanging out together west of Jetty Island. One of the whales was Patch, #49. They were both heading toward the shallows. Once they got there the whales turned on their sides to feed, exposing their pectoral flippers and their tail flukes at the same time with lots of splashing around. We watched for a long time as they fed continuously while large flocks of western grebes, surf scoters, white-winged scoters, and Glaucous-winged gulls watched close by. Later we saw three new gray whales heading in our direction, and decided to give them a closer look. As we approached one of the whales did a big spyhop. I was able to identify one of the grays as #22. The three grays joined our first group of two and soon all five were rolling around in the shallows feeding. As the sun broke out we headed north to take a look at the bald eagle's nest on Camano Island. The female was in the nest, and we saw two other bald eagles nearby along with a red-tailed hawk. On the way back we revisited our large group of gray whales. They had moved in closer to land with the rising tide, and they were still feeding in very shallow waters. What a treat to see 5 gray whales hanging out so close together! Naturalist - Bart Rulon

Naturalist Bart Rulon reports:It was another great day on the water! We were greeted by 2 California Sea Lions hanging out on the Green Markers around Jetty Island. NW of Jetty Island we found 2 Gray Whales (Patch #49 and #22 )  feeding and rolling around in shallow water which allowed us to see their pectoral fins and their beautiful flukes. We  headed North to Camano Island where we saw an Eagle perched above it's nest. We headed back toward the whales and were lucky to find a group of 4 gray whales feeding together, this time they let us have a look at their faces. While we were watching the whales an Eagle flew low and close to the bow of the boat... Twice!! 

Gray Whale #383

Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes

"The day started out looking as if rain gear would be appropriate, but again we were reminded of the bizarre Washington weather!! Just before our guests began to arrive the skies cleared and the sun came and stayed the entire day!! We continued to be pleasantly surprised as we departed the marina seeing a close flyby from a juvenile Bald Eagle, an Osprey perched in its nest, and a lone California Sea Lion basking in the sun! As a slight wind reminded us that we were indeed on a boat our first whales of the day were spotted in the river delta!! We watched as Gray Whale #21 & #22 fed in the extremely shallow waters giving us views of their partial fluke skimming the surface as they fed!! While on scene with these two feeding Gray Whales Captain Michael spotted yet another whale farther north towards Camano Island. After some last looks at #21 & #22 we ventured north to spend some time with #383 who showed off his fluking maneuvers!! Yet another great day spent on the water with Surf Scoters, Western Grebes, Glaucous-winged Gulls, California Sea Lion, a Caspian Tern, Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, Cormorants, Ospreys, Pigeon Guillemots, and 4 Gray Whales!!" - Naturalist Kate Janes

100% success for whale sightings in 2008! Stay tuned to the Whale Report for a field report from Naturalist Jami Nagel! "We started our trip with 5 bald eagles on Jetty Island and our 2 California sealions on the green marker. It wasn't long before we encountered our first Gray Whale, #22 at the south end of Hat Island. Just east of Hat Island we saw blows and headed for 2 more Gray's, #49 Patch and #383. We stayed with them for awhile getting some great fluke shots!! We next headed to the south end of Camano Island were we saw the eagle nest with both eagles present. One of them flew over the boat giving us a great sense of just how big they are!! There were several Common Loons around us also. After leaving we headed back toward Hat Island were we encountered our 4th Gray whale, #44 (we nicknamed him Adam). As we appoarched he spyhopped giving us full view of his head! We also saw red-necked and western grebes, surf scoters, osprey and numerous harbor seals!"