Transient Orcas T49s
hunting a porpoise
April 6, 2009
Photo by Monika Wieland

April 6
Today I saw my first orcas of 2009, and what a sighting it turned out to be! I was out with Captain Jim on the Peregrine this afternoon and we saw 8 transients in Haro Strait (we saw a group of 3 and a group of 5 - and there was another group reported further south). First we had the group of three including a pink little calf. I'm not sure who they were, but Ken Balcomb and others got good looks so hopefully they will report who it was. They spent about 15-20 minutes chasing a harbor porpoise around. At times it was hard to tell the calf apart from the porpoise as they both appeared so small next to the two adult females. The grand finale was a huge lunge by one of the adult females that launched the porpoise high into the air! (See first photo above.) I didn't even register it fully when I saw it but I somehow managed to click my camera and capture the proof. That was the last we saw of the porpoise, except for some lungs floating on the surface a little later. Shortly thereafter we were surprised by another group of five Ts. We knew they were in the area but thought they had headed in the other direction, so it was a pleasant surprise for them to pop up in our vicinity. The big male was T14, and I believe he was with the T49s. T49B and T49B1 were both in that group, and we left them heading south while the other group of 3 was heading north.
Monika Wieland, San Juan Island

April 6
Thought you might enjoy this pic (see photo below), with Mt Baker as a backdrop for the T49As and others. T14,' Pender ', was with this group this morning on Mark Mallerson's 11am trip. We finally found this illusive group, just off the Victoria waterfront, near Clover Point, after much searching. Marie, Orca-Magic, POW


T49s & T14 with Mt. Baker
Victoria, B.C.
April 6, 2009
Photo by Marie O'Shaughnessy

April 6
Well, looks like the first part of the trip (onboard NOAA's McArthur II Cruise) was So. Residents and then has been transient fest ever since. After Sunday'w Transient encounter we started zig-zagging south and about 4 AM (4/6) started picking up infrequent calls on the hydrophone array - we werent sure on ecotype - we were able to stay with and localize at sunrise and turned out to be another big group of Transients - at least 15 split into in several groups, including the whales we had Sunday afternoon! Candi and Dave are still working on the IDs.but at least the T11s, T46Bs, CA195 et al,. We were able to get out in the small boat and deployed two satellite tags - one on T11 and the other on a female-sized whale that ID is still to be determined. Robin Baird will have maps up on the Cascadia web site in the next couple of days. Made a swing down past Hecta Bank last night and now making the run north to be back in Seattle Thurs AM.
Brad Hanson, NWFSC, onboard the McArthur II