T10B, T14

Transients
Campbell River
August 28, 2009
Photo by
Florent Nicolas

Here is some news from Campbell River. Yesterday, 8/28, few Transients (5, one big male : may be T10B)- North Quadra Island (Rock Bay - Elk Bay). Moving to the south, looking for food ! (There were also some sea lions, and Pacific white sided dolphin - small group). Today, 8/29, T14 was in Campbell River, he spent some time next to the shore. Transients are here ! Regards,
Florent Nicolas

T41s T60s, T02B, T036 T099

August 26 Had Transient orcas T041, T041A, T060's, T02B, T036, and T099's again today except this time all together. They were first spotted north east of Race Rocks in the morning and last seen south of Discovery Island early afternoon. Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria BC

T02B T060s, T41s, T99s, T65s,T63s, T36 T31

August 25 Had the T060's with T02B, and T41's in the morning heading west off of Sooke. In the afternoon had the T099's with T063, T065, T065B, T036, and T031 heading west mid strait south of Race Rocks. Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria BC I left the T19s between Matia and Sucia Islands, headed toward Sucia, this evening at 6:30. Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island

T19s

August 25
I left the T19s between Matia and Sucia Islands, headed toward Sucia, this evening at 6:30.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island

T10

August 24 We saw the T10 transient group in Captain Passage just off of Salt Spring Island. They were traveling quite slow and not doing anything too active but was awesome to see that massive dorsal fin of T10B. Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

T10s, T31

August 23
During the afternoon we came upon three different groups of Transient Orcas, one in Rosario Strait, another (the T10's) near Middle Bank and the final group near Beaumont Shoals. This final group was 7 or 8 Orcas that included 2 Calfs several females and the lone male T31! As we arrived on scene they had just made a kill, probably a Harbor Seal and then began to move South Eastward.

T137s T36A & T36A1

Distant calls audible.

Not too long ago, a small group (5) of transients passed through Blackney Pass on their way to Blackfish Sound. This group was first spotted mid strait off of CP just after 3pm. These whales disappeared in the direction of the entrance to Blackney Pass but did not show up until more than an hour later. it looked like (from the photos) that it may have been the T137s plus 2 others. Meanwhile, the A35s passed CP at 4:44pm while the A23s,A25s and A28 were reported off the Tsitika River Estuary at 5:19pm. The A8s in company with the A12s and A24s were probably continuing west along the Vancouver Island shore parallel to the A35s.
Helena
23 Aug 2009 17:55:07 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby

These whales ae a bit difficult to tack when they don't oblige by making vocalisations as is the case tonight. Probably, they turned east into the ebbing tide and fell asleep.Their progress back east has been very ,very slow and as night fell they were still west of CP. Jim Borrowman managed to get out to the transients and confirmed the T137s and identified T36A and T36A1 as the travelling companions. Apparently, they killed a small sea lion off of Bold Head in Blackfish Sound.
Helena
23 Aug 2009 22:49:05 PDT

T41s, T63, T65s

Transient orca
T63, "Chainsaw"
Discovery Island, B.C.
August 22, 2009
Photo by
Andrew Lees


August 22
During the afternoon of August 22nd, our vessel Fastcat was a couple of miles south of Discovery Island when we suddenly received word from another boat that they had spotted Orcas. When we arrived on scene and one of the Orcas was identified as T63 "Chainsaw" (see photo above) plus T-41, T-41A along with a couple more Orcas. The Orcas moved to Seabird Point off Discovery and then began to travel West towards Victoria. They passed right by Victoria Harbor and we left the Orcas at the end of our evening trip hunting near Haystock Island.

August 22
Transient orcas T063, T065, T065B, T041, and T041A were first spotted off of Discovery Island this afternoon heading west.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

T018 and T019s

Seasmoke reports
It was a foggy morning that we headed out in and yet moment by moment the seascape was ever changing as land and forest emerged from the fog, appearing close along the shoreline and suddenly orcas were seen heading towards us. Two orcas were sighted initially, one being a male with a very broad fin leaning to the left and a female, two other orcas were sighted soon after. These orcas were identified as T018, T019, T019B & T019c; Transient Orcas who prey on marine mammals unlike those of the fish feeding Resident Orcas. The Transients headed into Blackfish Sound and we left them at this point,

T019B

Here is a pic of T019B (see photo to the right), next to Campbell River on Monday 17th! He was with 5 to 6 specimen, there was an other male (adult). Yesterday (8/18), I've also seen some transients between Campbell River and Quadra Island. I followed the animals with my bike until the south of Quadra Island, and with binoculars. There were some harbour porpoise in the area (seem to be common!). The 4 (or 5? A big male for sure !) moved to the south. I think there was some dolphin in the East of Quadra Island, but I am not sure about this sighting. Thanks one more time to Nick Templeman and Sherri from Discovery Marine Safaris - Campbell River.
Florent Nicolas

T101s

August 16
The Ocean Magic out of Victoria on Sunday morning Aug 16th encountered the T 101's in Haro Strait near Kelp Reef . 4 animals in total. The sea conditions were exceptional, with no wind, no waves and lots of sunshine. All four members of this group were traveling into Active Pass with the BC Ferry boats and other marine traffic. There are other ways to get to Georgia Strait so why do these intelligent Orca as well as the Southern Resident Orca chose to use an extremely boat-busy passage to get from A to B? They were seen to swim right along side the Ferry vessels. Now if they were afraid or distressed by large boats they wouldn't do this. I suspect they like the sensation that these huge boats create below the water, rather like a massage! All conjecture on my part of course.
Marie O'Shaughnessy, Orca-Magic Prince Of Whales, Victoria B.C.

T18s T19b

Male Transient Orca T19B
Victoria, BC
August 14, 2009
Photo by
Marie O'Shaughnessy

August 14
The T18's were seen this am at 10.30. I was on the 9 am Zodiac out of Victoria. Mark Mallerson ID this foursome. Apparently they have been hanging out in this area for four days now. We caught up with these Transients off Moresby and Coal Island, near Swartz Bay. I have included a pic of T 19B (cropped), the male with an unusual, broad based Dorsal Fin. They were busy traveling toward the Gulf Islands when we left them and looking for prey along the shoreline of Moresby.
Marie, Orca-Magic, Prince Of Whales, Victoria BC

T14

August 13
T14 'Pender' (see photo below), graced us with his mighty presence today. He was found approximately 2 miles south of William Head, Vancouver Island. He was traveling slowly east. It was good to see him again even if all alone in the Strait of Juan De Fuca. He is still looking good for his age. over 40+ . Last time I saw him he was keeping company with a few other Transients earlier this year.
Marie, Orca-Magic, Prince Of Whales, Victoria, BC



Transient Orca
Pender/T14
Vancouver Island, BC
August 13, 2009
Photo by Marie O'Shaughnessy

T10B

August 13
After receiving the report below about orcas in Admiralty Inlet, we headed over to the west side of Whidbey Island to try to find them. At 7:05 pm we watched many Harbor porpoise feeding off Bush Pt, then at 7:15 pm we finally spotted a large fin & several small ones way across the inlet, just SE of Foulweather bluff. They were slowly working their way NW, with some direction changes & likely hunting behaviors noted. We saw 4 orcas total, including 1 adult male and a juvenile or calf. They remained on the other side of the inlet, but from our distant photos, Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research made a tentative/possible ID of the bull as T10B, based on fin shape. We watched the pod continue NW for an hour, at 8:15 pm they were nearing the SE end of Fort Flagler, still heading out.
Susan Berta & Howard Garrett, Orca Network, Whidbey Island

T018, T019s

August 12
This afternoon (8/12) at about 12:45, following a hunch by Captain Ivan, we were lucky enough to be the boat that picked up the Transient orcas T19s between Patos and East Point. We watched the four whales - T18, T19, male T19B, and T19C - as they slowly circled the area. You can read the details of our adventure and see some photos on my blog. They stayed in Boundary Pass for the rest of the afternoon.
Monika Wieland, Naturalist aboard the Western ExplorerAugust 12
Transient killer whales T-19 and T-19B with another sprouting? male and female hunting for harbor seals around Java Rocks off of Saturna Island, Canada, from 2:37pm to 3:32pm. Slack ebb tide made for pond like conditions. The four whales circled the rocks several times, while the harbor seals on land were on alert with backs arched, some going for higher ground! There were seals in the water looking nervously about. They did make some sudden turns and lunges, underwater kills? At the west end of the rocks, T-19B paused sideways while the other 3 whales rapidly came toward him, a few lunges, one showed it's flukes, then a few tails lobs, before they headed northwest towards Saturna. T-19B's dorsal fin looks so big and heavy, growing faster than the rest of him, the weight of it leaning left, and he is only 14 years old- he's going to be huge at full maturity!!
Caroline Armon, San Juan Island

August 12
This afternoon, another boat had spotted the Transient Orcas! We had a feeling they must be out somewhere, with the Residents miles and miles away. Generally when the fish-eating (resident) Orcas of J, K, L pods are out of range, then there are mammal-hunting (transient) Orcas in the neighborhood. Sure enough! Known as the T19s this group was out in Canadian waters. When we arrived they were "resting" (the term used for Orca sleep). Slow synchronized dives in a tight knit group. As they neared some rocks the small group split up, circling around and around. There were a lot of harbor seals resting just above the water's edge as well as a few unsuspecting seals in the water. If they did indeed feed, then they were quite graceful about it because we never noticed any sudden dives or charges below to grab a seal. The transients then continued on their way, back in a tight group hugging the shoreline. What a great day - and my first encounter with Transients of the season!
-Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist, Crew At San Juan Safaris Whale Watch Wildlife Tours

T14

August 1
On Sat Aug 1st we encountered T14 "Pender" a couple of miles NE of 10 mile point at around 12.30pm as we were heading back to Victoria. T14 was traveling north towards D'arcy Island and we saw him surface several times. The last time I had seen T14 was on May 10th, 2009 as we had encountered him South of Race Rocks heading West. It was great to see the old guy again:)
Andrew Lees, Five Star Whale Watching