Transients passing quietly

No calls but orcas nearby

We just had a group of four transients quietly head South through Blackney Passage!
Marie & Leah
26 Feb 2010 14:04:28 PST

Transients passing quietly

No calls but orcas nearby

We just had a group of 7 transients quietly heading North through Blackney Passage!
Marie & Leah
20 Feb 2010 10:28:02 PST

T030s, T172 & T14

Transient Orca T30 and a Harbor seal have a face off
(note seal's head above the water on left side of photo!)
Victoria, B.C., Feb. 17, 2010
Photo by Mark Malleson


The T030's and T172 (see photo above!) were off of Victoria all day again on February 17th. T014 was within a mile of them in the morning but continued on to the east and then north through Oak Bay in the afternoon (see photo above). Cheers,
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

Transient orca
T14, "Pender"
Victoria, B.C.
Feb. 17, 2010
Photo by
Mark Malleson

Feb. 17
Transient orca T14, "Pender" off Victoria going East to Trial Island, 1117 today.
Ron Bates, MMRG, Victoria B.C.

Transients in JS

Distant calls audible.

We are hearing calls in Johnstone Strait!
Marie
19 Feb 2010 06:53:25 PST

No calls but orcas nearby

The calls from early this morning were transients! A group of 8-10 headed West in Johnstone Strait and went past Ledge Point at 0900 (thanks to Jackie, Bill/Donna and Alex for spotting them). Its another beautiful sunny calm day here on Hanson!
Marie & Leah
19 Feb 2010 11:00:20 PST

T060's and T02B

On the afternoon of February 16th I found the T060's and T02B south of Saltspring Island heading into Saanich Inlet. Thanks to Jeff of Emerald Sea Adventures for passing on an earlier report of KW's spotted westbound near Portland Island.

Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

T030s and T172

Feb. 14
We had our resident Transients the T030's with T172 again on the afternoon of February 14th near Race Rocks east bound. Good spotting Saltchuk!
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales

T30s, T172

Transient orcas
T30A, T30B & T172
Race Rocks, B.C.
Feb. 8, 2010
Photo by
Mark Malleson

Feb. 8
I found the T030's and T172 (Transient orcas) on February 8th east bound south of Race Rocks in a resting formation @ 1445.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

T30s with T172

Feb. 7
Had the T030's with T172 today (2/7) a few miles south of Victoria harbor. They were first spotted at 1045 and still there hunting seals at 1550.

T30s,T86As, T87s, T88, T90, T90b, T100s, T101s, T102, T172, T124As

Feb. 5
I found the big group of Transient orcas that have been around the past few days again today this time east bound in 3 groups near Race Rocks at 1430.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

Feb. 5
I hadn't been out on the water for about 2 weeks, started really missing being out there. So I decided to go out on a Prince of Whale trip with Mallard. Well what a day !!! We hit the mother lode of Transients (serious wrecking crew) as we found over 25 Transients just East of Race Rocks !!!! I.D.'s included: T-30's, T-86A's, T-87 with T-88, T-90 and T-90B, T-100's with new calf T-100E, T-101's with T-102, T-172, and the T-124A's with new calf T-124A4 !!! Absolutely brilliant day on the ocean - flat calm seas, sunny, warm and lots of whales.
Jeff Lamarche (Eagle Wing Tours - onboard Prince of whales with Mallard)

T110B & T110C tagged

Feb. 4
Brad Hanson of NOAA Fisheries NWFSC called with a report tonight. After receiving the call from Orca Network, they were able to get out in the NOAA boat and found the orcas in two groups in the vicinity of Point No Point, N. Kitsap Peninsula this afternoon, observing a sea lion kill. They were successful in deploying satellite tags on T100B & T100C, and will be posting maps of their movements on the Cascadia Research website in the next few days. They left the orcas at around 4:30 pm, the orcas were heading both north and south, so it's anyone's guess where they will show up tomorrow!

Feb. 4
Dick and I left the whales at 4.15 pm, still in two groups, one to the south of Foulweather Bluff, one to the north. Those 'at the south end' were in the vicinity of two boats (NOAA maybe?) and less distinct. Those 'at the north end' were making their way slowly north, and appeared to be foraging or milling with some breaching and spyhopping behavioural activity. Seeing the whales this afternoon made up for Marty and I missing them earlier while we were rooted to the spot on our 2-hour marine mammal observation duties at Ft Casey! (what dedicated volunteers we have!! sb)
Sandra Pollard & Dick Snowberger, Freeland, Whidbey Island

Feb. 4
Ivan Reiff of Western Prince whale watch called at 4:15 pm to report he had been flying from San Juan Island to Seattle, and timed it right to see the pod of orcas between Point No Point (N. Kitsap Peninsula) & Double Bluff (Whidbey Isl) at about 3:45 pm. There were ~10 north of Pt. No Point, and a few more south of Pt. No Point, and he observed them making a kill. The NOAA boat was with the whales.

Feb. 4
John Fortin of Hansville called to report 3 orcas between Foulweather Bluff and Bush Pt, including a male, a female and a calf at 3:45 pm. He reported 2 boats and the KOMO news chopper on site.

Feb. 4
This is Heather Hoins on Marrowstone - I just saw them (orcas) as well - 3:30 pm - they appear to be going in small circles - right smack in the middle of the shipping channel - I only saw 3 maybe 4 individuals and no male.
Heather also called in a report of 4 orcas, including 1 male, off S. Marrowstone at 11:58 am, heading south, nearing Foulweather Bluff.

Feb. 4
I have them (the orcas) at Double Bluff at 3:20. Looks like maybe a half dozen transients, including at least one juve?
John Herman

Feb. 4
After receiving a call from Rick Huey of orcas southbound in Admiralty Inlet, we headed over to Bush Pt. to see if we could find and ID them. At around 10:20 am we caught our first glimpse of the orcas - a male, 2 females and a calf midway down Marrowstone Island heading south. At 11:05 am another group of 4 - 5 came through, closer to the Whidbey side. At 11:07 we spotted more whales to the north heading our way! 11:15 am, we spotted 6 - 7 orcas just north of Bush Pt, circling & hunting close to the Whidbey side. 11:30 am, the last large group (we thought....) was heading south past Bush Pt.
At 11:45 am, ~6 orcas were in a resting line between Skunk Bay and Mutiny Bay, heading south. At 11:50 am, the last group was off Foulweather Bluff (~10+). At this point we estimated we'd seen 16 - 20 whales total.
Then, at noon, we saw 8+ blows way on the other side off Foulweather Bluff & the entrance to Hood Canal. At 12:15 pm we saw 6 blows off Foulweather Bluff - all whales seemed to be traveling south at a good pace, & were moving out of our line of sight, so we headed back home - after having observed 25+ orcas pass by! After viewing our photos and video, we were able to confirm our suspicions that this was the pod of 27 Transients observed off Victoria B.C. on Weds. What a thrill to get to see them all - a rare Transient Superpod!
Susan Berta & Howard Garrett, Orca Network, Whidbey Island

Feb. 4
Pat Scott of Bush Pt, Whidbey Island called to report 5 - 6 orcas, including 1 calf off Bush Pt, heading south toward Mutiny Bay at 10:25 am.

Feb. 4
Orca Network received a call from a woman reporting orcas off Lagoon Pt, Whidbey Island at 10:15 am heading south.

Feb. 4
Karen Edelblute called Orca Network at 9:56 am to report 4 orcas off N. Lagoon Pt., mid-channel, heading south toward Bush Pt.

Feb. 4
Rick Huey of Washington State Ferries called Orca Network at 9:15 am to report observing several orcas mid-channel off Marrowstone Island, heading south.
Rick called again at 10:30 am to report another group of 4 - 6 orcas heading past the haul out off Marrowstone Island, heading south, closer to the east side of Admiralty Inlet.

T100s with a new calf: T100E

Transient orcas
and new calf
S. of Race Rocks
Feb. 3, 2010
Photo by
Jeanne Hyde



New calf and T100s - Transient orcas
SE of Race Rocks, B.C.
Feb. 3, 2010
Photo by Marie O'Shaughnessy
Photo taken with zoom lens and cropped

Feb. 3
One just had to be out on the water this special day when it was reported that a big group of Transients were heading this way past Oak Bay, Victoria BC. Mark Malleson and Ken Balcomb were out there first in the morning, so by 2pm when the Prince of Whales zodiac, skippered by Mark, left the harbour I was wondering which direction those whales might be traveling and how much distance they had made. Luckily the exact location was known and we found them south and east of Race Rocks in American waters. It is always helpful to relocate with a couple of boats on scene. It was impressive to see so many Transients together. Initially, we found them in resting formation, and then doing what transients do best, Zig-Zagging all over. It was lovely to see a brand new calf with the T100's. Eventually we left them while they headed back east. It was an amazing sight to see so many transients together.
Marie, Orca-Magic, Prince of Whales, Victoria BC.

Feb. 3
Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research called at 12:35 pm to report 20 - 25 Transient orcas in Oak Bay, Victoria. They observed at least 1 kill.

Feb. 3
5:51 am: very faint transient calls being heard on Lime Kiln hydrophones, San Juan Isl.
5:58 am: loud calls on OrcaSound now.
8:12 am : There they are again.
8:33 am: visual on Transient orcas going down - 4+ miles from shore 1+ m south of Kelp reef marker - visual of 4 fins up at same time.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island




Feb. 3
7:40 am: The WHO_listener automatic detection started picking up orca calls at Lime Kiln at 4:21 this morning. By 5:03 the detections had shifted to OrcaSound where many calls were recorded up until 6:33.
Val Veirs, OrcaSound/The Whale Museum

Feb. 3
I am a new user of the hydrophone network, but this morning, from about 0910 to 0920 Eastern Time (0610 - 0620 Pacific time), I heard some echolocation coming from the hydrophones at both Lime Kiln and the OrcaSound hydrophone on San Juan Island. The calls were stronger at the OrcaSound hydrophone, not Lime Kiln, but came in stronger at Lime Kiln towards the end of my listening bout. I am not certain these are killer whales; like I said, I am a new listener and cannot identify everything I hear. But this is the first time I have ever heard anything of note on the hydrophone network, and I am excited about it. I would have listened longer, but had to go to work. Cheers,
John Rohrback

Feb. 3
Transient calls loud and clear on both Lime Kiln and OrcaSound hydrophones at 6:23 am.
Cathy Bacon, Marine Mammal Research Assistant

Feb. 3
0615 PST - ORCA'S LOUD AT LIME KILN.
Lon Brocklehurst

Feb. 3
Mark Malleson and I have made a preliminary review of our photos today (2/3) and it appears that there were 27 Transients, including the new calf of T100 which Graeme Ellis and Jared Towers have given the designation T100E. Great day!
Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island

Transients calling in JS

Distant calls audible.

There were a short duration of calls and the whales have just gone quiet in Johnstone Strait.
Leah and Marie
03 Feb 2010 17:39:45 PST

Orcas near mics.

Transient calls in Johnstone Strait!
Helena
03 Feb 2010 18:04:49 PST