T30s and T172

T30s
West Vancouver Island
Jan. 26, 2010
Photo by Marie O'Shaughnessy

Jan. 26
Another wonderful trip with Prince of Whales Skipper, Mark Malleson this afternoon (1/26). We headed out west at 1pm, looking for the Transients that Mark has seen from his on shore look-out two hours earlier. We had to travel a fair ways out west to encounter these elusive animals, but there they were, just as Mark had hoped. The T 30's and T172 were Identified, five animals in total. Encountered approximately 3 miles south of Sheringham Lighthouse along the west coast of Vancouver Island. They were play hunting with a seal, without taking it down. They created some sizable swells around the seal, but the little seal kept bobbing along the surface. When they tired of their game they headed further out west. Most interesting behaviour. 2nd trip out in January for me, and we got lucky!
Marie, Orca-Magic, Prince of Whales.



Jan. 26
Saw them again today - T30s and T172 still cruising around the Strait of Juan De Fuca.
Kyla Graham, Victoria B.C.

T30s with T172

T30s and T172
Race Rocks & Victoria, B.C.
Jan. 25, 2010
Photo by Mark Malleson

Jan. 25
I spotted a small group of killer whales from the shorleline off of Victoria's waterfront at 11:30 today (1/25). Kyla Graham and myself went out to get an ID on them and found the T30's with T172 west bound at 1330, 2 miles south of Race Rocks. We left them milling at 1445, 5 miles south of Becher Bay. Thanks again to Gord Rowles for tracking them for us while we launched the boat.
Mark Malleson, Independent Tsearch, Victoria B.C.

T093, T097

Transient orcas
T97 and T93
Haro Strait
Jan. 13, 2010
Photo by
Dave Ellifrit,
Center for Whale Ressearch


Jan. 13
Had Transient orcas T093 and T097 again on Jan 13th off Victoria headed east (see photo). At 1230 I got a tip from a fisherman on Constance Bank of a single bull killing a seal. At 1345 I found them south of Discovery Island headed east for Middle Bank. Thanks to Gord for keeping track of them with the Big Eyes.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

Jan. 13
Here's a continuation of Mark's sighting (above). I received a call from Mark Malleson around 1315 today of transients off Seabird Pt. heading east. I arrived on scene at 1420 and joined Mark who had T93 and T97 still heading easterly. Mark left soon afterwards and I stayed with the pair for another hour as they continued east in the great wide open on a line between Seabird Pt. on Discovery Island and Iceberg Pt. on Lopez Is. Other than one brief period of milling around 1526 (I could not confirm a kill here), they kept heading east at a slow to medium pace. I left them at 1537, closer to Hein Bank than Salmon Bank pointed toward Iceberg Pt.
Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island

Jan. 13
I received a call from Mark Malleson around 13:15 on the 13th reporting transients heading east off Seabird Pt. on Discovery Island. I departed Snug Harbor at13:40 and arrived on scene at 1420 (48 23.93N 123 08.22W) several miles ESE of Seabird Pt. where Malleson had T93 and T97 (two transient bulls) heading easterly at a medium speed. Malleson left soon afterward and I continued on with the pair as they traveled on alternating between a slow and medium pace. There was a brief period of milling at 1526 (48 23.76N 123 01.62W) by both whales but I could not confirm a kill. The whales continued traveling easterly at a medium speed and I ended the encounter at 15:37 (48 23.84N 123 00.72W) a couple of miles NE of Hein Bank.
Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research
Click here for photos

T093, T097, T124C

Transient orcas
T93, T97 & T 124C
Sooke, B.C.
Jan. 12, 2010
Photo by Marie O'Shaughnessy


Jan. 12
I came across Transient orcas T097, T093 and T124C on the afternoon of January 12th east bound off of East Sooke Park (S Vancouver Island). I left them entering Race Passage at 1550hrs still east bound against a strong ebb current.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria

Jan. 12
Another great winter trip today as Mallard found 3 Transients off of Secretary Island this afternoon. At Approximately 1440 hrs., I arrived on scene 0.5 nm South of Beechey Hd. (East Sooke Park) to find two large males, T-93 and T-97, respectively being escorted by a single female. (T-124C) The group of three were travelling consistently to the East at a good clip (4-6 kts.) During my stay with the animals, we saw two seal kills which T-124C made. All business and no play for this group; as we did not see any play behaviour or hear any vocals after they made the kills. We left the group at 1545 hrs. still headed East just inside Race Passage. Conditions today were foggy with light rain showers coupled with flat calm seas.
Jeff Lamarche, Eagle Wing Tours, Vctoria B.C.

T103

Transient orca T103
Sooke, B.C.
Jan. 5, 2010
Photo by
Mark Malleson
Jan. 5
I had (Transient orca) T103 on Jan 5 westbound past Sooke at 1400. The conditions were great for spotting and no sign of any others around.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

T063, T065B, T036, T036B, T028A

Transient orca T63
near Race Rocks
Jan. 3, 2010
Photo by
Mark Malleson

Jan. 3, 2010 Had more transients this afternoon south of Victoria west bound. T063 aka "Chainsaw" , T065B, T036, T036B, and T028A were among 8 or 9 individuals. Still working on the rest of the ID's. I left them south-west of Race Rocks at 1510.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

Jan. 3, 2010
I spent the morning with Mallard spotting for whales up at Ken's place. No luck though. However, on the afternoon tour Mallard found 3 Transients approx. 3nm South of VH (right off Victoria) !! After spending some time with these three individuals, I spotted 6 others a few miles Southeast of our location. Upon arrival, I confirmed T-63 (Chainsaw) with others. Tentative ID's were found to be T-63, T-65B, T-36, T-36B and T- 28A. Will confirm with Mark later once he looks at his photos. The nine animals tracked Southwest of Race Rocks and we left them at 1520 hrs. 2.7nm Southwest of lighthouse headed West. Had some people from Kobe Japan onboard that had never seen Orcas before. Brilliant day on the water.
Jeff Lamarche, Eagle Wing Tours, Victoria, B.C.

T31, T99s

Transient orca T31
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Jan. 2, 2010
Photo by Mark Malleson

Jan. 2, 2010
Had a large group of Transients on the afternoon of Jan 2 between Race Rocks and Port Angeles travelling quickly east bound. T31 was shadowing a group of 11 -13 females and juveniles which included the T99's.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

Jan. 2, 2010
(continued from above report): Also right now, 2:08 pm, there is a "mother lode" of transients with Mallard south of Race Rocks inbound.
Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island

Transients at Monterey

Transient orcas
Monterey Bay, CA
Jan. 2, 2010
Photo by
Kate Cummings

Jan. 2, 2010
My name is Kate and I am a deckhand for Sanctuary Cruises out of Moss Landing, CA. Today we spotted a group of 5 transient Orcas who had just killed a sea lion. We often saw the female with the jagged dorsal fin with parts of the carcass in her mouth. The pod was very active, swimming right along side the boat several times. One appeared to be doing "hand-stands"- frequently sticking its flukes straight out of the water. We often see this male, the one with half of a dorsal fin, near Moss Landing. It was a wonderful experience! We found them at: 36'47.3, 121'54.8. They stayed in the same general area from 11am, when we picked them up, until 12:15 when we headed in.
Kate Cummings, Monterey, CA


Transient orca CA219
plus un-IDd orca w/jagged fin
Monterey Bay, CA
Jan. 2, 2010
Photo by
Kate Cummings

Monterey Transient orca IDs from Alisa Schulman Janiger:
The photo here shows CA219 and another whale (jagged fin) that I cannot ID from this image. The only other images that I have of it were taken at sunset this year (no saddle detail); it is probably a known whale with a drastically altered dorsal fin shape.
The photo (from our Jan. 2nd Whale Report) shows CA217 (male) "Chopfin" or "Stumpy". Female on the left looks like CA216. We first saw these whales in 1998.
Very nice behavior shots!
Alisa Schulman-Janiger, California Killer Whale Project, ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project: Director