Transient sightings 2010


Transient sightings 2010 weergeven op een grotere kaart

Thursday, January 31, 2008

31 January 2008, Orcalab reportrs:

No orcas present.

A nice grey day here on Hanson Island. The MacKays reported seeing a small group of transients near Gilford village this morning. Snow on the mountains, all has melted on the ground.
Helena
31 Jan 2008 14:26:50 PST

Sunday, January 27, 2008

27 January 2008, Orcalab reports:
No calls but orcas nearby

There is a group of 8 transients around today. They were first sighted by the MacKays off Bold Head headed to Stubbs Island. They must have then gone through Weynton Pass as they were next seen in Beaver Cove by Jackie Hinderling. They are now moving off to the west toward Alert Bay.
Helena
27 Jan 2008 15:17:01 PST

Monday, January 21, 2008

21 January 2008, Orca Network reports:

We had a frustratingly late call of [orcas] that were heading up past Maple Bay in the morning, but we did not get the report until about three o'clock. We managed to race down and get a few quick id's before dark, but that's all. It was a group of transients including T124's, T124A's and T090's, 9 in total.
Graeme Ellis, DFO, Canada

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

16 january 2008, Orca Network reports:

I work in the 3131 Western Ave building, and I just spent about 10 minutes watching a pod of Orcas playing in Elliott Bay. I was using a telescope, but I'm not a whale expert so I can't offer much more information than the fact that there were about 6 orcas, and it appeared that there were about four larger fins (adults?) and about two smaller fins (juveniles?). They are still out there (it's currently 10:01 A.M.), between the downtown waterfront and West Seattle (currently closer to the downtown side). It looks like they're playing and feeding. I'm so excited because I've been working in this building for a year and a half, and this is my first sighting! This made my day. Thanks very much for your great work,
Deb Hardy, Seattle
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Amy Carey of Vashon Island relayed some additional reports she received of the Transient pod as they headed south this afternoon. They were observed going south past Pt. Robinson, east Maury Island, in the early afternoon; from 3:30 - 4 pm they were off Gold Beach in the Maury Island Preserve heading south, but another report soon afterward had them heading north.
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Orca Network received a call from John Fortin at 3:25 pm, reporting a male & female orca off Double Bluff, west Whidbey Island, heading north.
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We jumped in the car & headed over to Bush Pt. after receiving the above report, and we found the orcas at 4:07 pm off the entrance to Hood Canal. They unfortunately stayed on the other side of Admiralty Inlet so we didn't get any close looks, but we were able to shoot some video. There were 4 orcas - 2 adult males, 1 sprouter & a female. They continued NW in Admiralty Inlet, closer to the other side. We left them at 4:40 pm, just south of Ft. Flagler, swimming in a line not far offshore. The entire time we watched them, we also were watching small groups of Harbor Porpoise all across the Inlet - the orcas must have been well fed because we didn't witness any of the porpoise becoming dinner!
Susan Berta & Howard Garrett, Orca Network, Whidbey Island
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Orca Network sent stills from the video we took to see if anyone could ID any of these whales (though it was from a LONG distance away!) - here's what Dave Ellifrit has to say: I will go out on a limb here and say that the one bull does indeed have all the looks of T87. Mallard had him and T88 over a week ago with the T124's and T90's so I would not doubt that that group could be bopping around (& as noted above, T124 was ID'd in Jeff Hogan's shot of the T's off Alki). I'll go out on an even bigger (smaller?) limb and say that the other big bull looks like T93. That's about the best I can do. Good catch and send them up here! Cheers,
Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island
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I just wanted to let you know that I am watching orcas in Elliot Bay from my office window, 10:00am. I have never seen them this far into Elliot Bay. They are on the west side of Elliot bay, southwest of the Ferry Route, closer to the Alki side, down where there are some cargo ships moored out in the bay. It's now 10:38 am and it looks like they have moved south and west around the point at Alki. There was a helicopter very high above them for a little while so I'm guessing it might have been one of the news stations.
Heather Hudson, Seattle
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A pod of Orca passed Alki point heading south at app. 10:30 this morning. Don't know which pod but I would estimate 10-15 individuals, without an obvious adult male. They were travelling quickly, with long periods (and distance) underwater. I first saw them 10 minutes earlier passing SW close to Alki Beach, appearing to be coming from Eliiot Bay.
Kevin Schafer, Seattle
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Jeff Hogan of Killer Whale Tales in Seattle called at 11:05 am to report seeing the pod of orcas just south of Alki Pt, south of Elliott Bay, Seattle. He saw ~9 orcas, no males present, & identified them as Transient orcas. He called again at 11:30 am to report they had just disappeared - when he saw them they weren't traveling in any direction - he did get some photos so we hopefully will have some ID's on them soon.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

No calls but orcas nearby

Seven transients just travelled south through Blackney Pass headed for Johnstone Strait. Too far away for identifictation but the group included a mum and calf, two adult females, a possible juvenile and an adult male. They made no calls but moved back and forth over something when opposite us.
Helena
02 Jan 2008 13:35:14 PST