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.