Transient Orca Whales
Captain Carl just called in reporting Transient Orca Whales off Washington Park!!! Naturalist Brooke will be giving a detailed report later today.
What a day on the water! To start off our day we had a California sea lion hauled out on the channel marker in Guemes Channel. We started southbound in Rosario Strait when we came across some transient orca whales swimming north! We haven't seen whales that close to homeport yet this season. We were able to identify T-123 and T2C. We had five transients altogether in the group. They were being quite playful for transients, rolling on their backs and showing us their white bellies! We got some great passes from the whales! We spent plenty of time with them, then we decided to head off in search of other animals. We made our way to Eagle Bluff on Cypress Island and then over to Peapod Rocks. On Peapod rocks, we found some harbor seals hauled out and we even got to watch an eagle swoop down and grab a rockfish from the water! The eagle flew right across our bow. At this time, the orcas we had already visited with were at Peapod Rocks, so we got to see them again. They took us to the north side of Orcas Island. Then one of our passengers spotted a minke whale behind us. We took a vote and our customers wanted to go see if we could find another species of whale. We left in search of the minke; a couple of our customers saw him surface again but he had really long down times. It was about that time when Captain Carl got a phone call; there were more transient orca whales not too far from where we were! We set off in search of more whales! We made our way through Peavine Pass and found T-40, also know as Captain Hook, with two smaller whales. We arrived just in time, the whales changed their behavior and started hunting! They found a little harbor seal, who was seeking refuge under a sailboat. The whales continued to circle the boat and tired the little harbor seal out. After awhile of the whales circling the harbor seal, we could no longer find that seal. The whales actually moved away from the sail boat and headed in our direction. They passed by our boat and went on their way east. What an encounter! We made our way back toward the dock, astounded and amazed at our day on the water!
Transients!
T-40 "Captain Hook"
Bald eagle with a rockfish in its talons
posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 12:17 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Wow! Sounds like a great day on the water!
And I'm sure that little seal got away.... :)
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