Transient orcas
T36As
Eglon, Kitsap Peninsula
Sept. 27, 2009
Photo by
Randy Sprague
& Wendy Hallett
Photos taken with 300 mm lens
Sept. 28
Sept. 27
My wife, Wendy, spotted a small pod of Orcas this afternoon while heading north along the Kitsap Peninsula in Puget Sound. Wendy spotted three Orcas about a half mile ahead of us off Eglon about 4:00 PM. We stopped our trawler and watched them to see where they were going. They were just milling around between Kitsap and the south end of Whidbey Island pretty much in the shipping lanes. As we watched we noted a couple other Orcas. We saw at least 5 whales, but they were spread out a bit so there may have been more. We watched them for about an hour, and occasionally they got close enough for me to shoot some pictures with my 300 mm lens. I have attached a few of the pictures I got. Two of these pictures show the saddles pretty well, but I am not familiar with these individuals. I am sure you will no doubt be able to recognize them. Thanks for all your good work! Cheers,
Randy Sprague and Wendy Hallett
We were pretty sure these were the 5 Transient orcas that have been down in south Puget Sound since the beginning of Sept, & in looking closely at the photo, thought we could detect what looks like the very small satellite tag placed on T36A by Cascadia Research & NOAA Fisheries on Sept. 20th. When I contacted Brad Hanson with this sighting, he said the sat tag data confirmed that T36A was at this location at that date & time. Cool stuff! You can check out the tracks of T36A & other Transients at Cascadia Research's website here. The maps are updated every few days - they have tracks up to Sept. 26th shown now - it is amazing to see how they have checked out every nook & cranny in So. Puget Sound during just the past week!
Susan Berta, Orca Network
