T59s waiting for stranded dolphin

Cetacealab reports

It was just passed 7am this morning when I started to hear calls from pacific white-sided dolphins on our hydrophone right here in Taylor Bight. It sounded like a lot of dolphins and they seemed to be getting closer and closer. The sun was not about to rise for another hour but because of the clear sky there was already enough daylight to perhaps see them. It is rather unusual for the dolphins to come close into our bay especially in large numbers, so I was pretty excited to go and see them. Just as I was about to open the door to go outside I heard what I thought were faint transient Orca calls among the now close dolphin chatter. Intuitive I grabbed the video camera instead of binoculars not knowing that I was about to witness something extremely extraordinary.

As I walked towards our viewing platform I saw a group of dolphins deep in the east corner of Taylor Bight. They were swimming very fast either hunting fish or running away from potential danger. A few moments later I reached the platform and immediately heard an Orca blow to the west. There were the transients, four of them, two females and two juveniles travelling very slowly and staying close to shore. They were not following the big group of dolphins instead they stayed in the same area going in big circles remaining so very close to the rocky shoreline. It took me a few minutes to understand what was going on as the whales disappeared behind exposed rocks due to the low tide. They were pacing, waiting. But what was it that they were waiting for? In order to find out I had to go back towards the house as the whales were right close to the beach on the west side. Of course Neekas, our dog, was with me, and in anticipation on what I was to see I locked her in the house. Then I slowly walked to the beach on the west side. The four transients were swimming right close to edge of the rocky beach in only about 10feet of water and just a few meters away from them barely above the tideline on the rocks was the reason why they were there. A young juvenile dolphin. The poor thing most likely beached itself while it was chased by the whales. It was still alive, its tail still touching the waters edge. I did not go close instead I stayed in the forest and filmed the event from a distance. The last thing I wanted to do is interfere. My emotions were divided, on the one hand there were these beautiful transient Orcas close to my house and on the hand there was this small dolphin scared to the bone and facing death. The tide was still ebbing so it would be at least another two hours before the water would be high enough for the whales to perhaps grab the dolphin. They continued to stay close to the beach, taking turns on who would patrol close by the dolphin. They were clearly excited, especially the juveniles as they spy-hopped and rolled over each other numerous times. I did not get the feeling that my presence disturbed them, after all they continued to patrol the beach for another hour. At least one of the whales was always in eye contact with the beached dolphin and sometimes they would create waves with their tail flukes hoping the waves would pull the dolphin off the beach. To witness their strategic patrol was just amazing!

But then, just after the tide turned towards a flood the whales suddenly disappeared. I thought they just a took long dive and would continue their patrol but minutes later I saw the whole group heading out of Taylor Bight. To be sure I waited another 10minutes but they never came back. I saw them one more time as they surfaced close to the east end of Taylor Bight, following the big group of dolphins perhaps. Now I was left with a young dolphin on the beach that so urgently needed to be back in its element in order to have a second chance. I put on my drysuit and slowly approached the dolphin. I could see a few deep scratches it was bleeding from, most likely from barnacles on the rocks. The water was rising fast now, the rear end of the dolphin already submerged. So I gently lifted its body to get it back in the water. I turned its head towards the open water and held it. I waited for the dolphin to start swimming out of my hands and after a its breathing calmed down from the stress it did just that. A few shallow dives and then a long one and off it went. I heard myself screaming “You go girl!” I saw it a few more times surfacing before it was out of my sight. Of course it is hard to say what its survival chances are, the sooner it finds its pod again the higher the chances will be...

This was truly an experience of a lifetime and one that I (Hermann) will never forget in my life!

I later figured out that the transients where the T59s.

Transients near San Juan Island

23 februari

A late breaking report of "very strange sounds on OrcaSound's Lime Kiln and Orca Sound Hydropones at 1837 - are they Ts?? follow up at 1850: faint calls on Lime Kiln then switched to Orca Sound Hps. and the same call was repeated over and over - really loud. y the time I sent the prior post they had stopped. I learned that the Ts were coming back south a while ago and so that might very well have been them.
Jeanne Hyde, the Whale Museum, San Juan Island
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I got a call from Captain Ivan this morning that there were whales inbound at Victoria, and then it was confirmed as a very large group of Transients! I got another call that the whales were still around, actually just across Haro Strait near Gooch Island. So off we went to see if we would be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the whales. Suddenly about 800 yards ahead of us the water fairly burst with froth as 9 orcas came to the surface simultaneously! This group of Transients were heading north at a fairly fast 9-10 knot pace as they continued north. We didn't know where the other whales that had been sighted had gone off to, so finally around 4pm we turned south to head home. Suddenly another group of orcas appeared ahead of us. Fortunately for us, this group (T102 is the only one I can give an ID for) was south bound and led us down Sydney Island. We left the whales at the southern tip of Sydney still heading south.
John Boyd (JB) & Mrs. JB Marine Naturalist & His Wonderfully Patient wife! Friday Harbor
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Orca Network received reports from The Center for Whale Research & Mark Malleson of Prince of Whales, who were out with the whales, which turned out to be a very large group of Transient orcas. Mark said after they got the report from the Victoria Clipper, they found the whales off the south end of Trial Island near Victoria, & tentatively ID'd them as the T87's, T100's, T101's, and the T124's.
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They fanned out into 3 groups and headed up Haro Strait moving fast. More IDs & info: Mallard and I figured out that we had a total of 19 whales around today from the T87's, T90's, T100's, T101's, T124's, and T124A's. We got on them near Beaumont Shoals around 1235 and left them just north of Kelp Reef at about 1350.
Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island

Watched the T30's (transient orcas) kill a harbour seal 5 miles south of Trial Island in afternoon. They were last seen westbound.
Mark Malleson, Victoria, BC Canada