Transient Orcas
Bowen Island
Oct. 24, 2009
Photo by Joan Lopez
Photo taken with a 300mm zoom lens
Oct. 24
After a long search, we finally caught up to a group of Transient Orcas that had been reported off Nanaimo at 9:30 AM. They were eventually located on the west side of of Bowen Island at approximately 3:00 PM. I have Id'ed 9 seperate individuals from photos, 3 of them calves. A photo, taken with a 300mm zoom lens, that shows 8 individuals is attached. Whales IDed are T36, T36B, a calf that surfaced consistently beside T36B, T46B plus a calf that surfaced with T46B, T46B1, T99, T99A and T99B. Photos of the calves will be sent to the Centre for Whale Research and to DFO. These T's were last seen heading east into Howe Sound along the northwest side of Bowen Island.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.
Oct. 24
Marlin Hansen who operates a Water Taxi in Howe Sound called Orca Network to report a pod of 7 orcas in Collingwood Channel near Keats Island from 4 - 7 pm He has never observed orcas in this area before.
Transient orca calf
Bowen Island, B.C.
Oct. 24, 3009
Photo by Gary Sutton
Oct. 24
Orca!! It's been a while since I've seen some orca and finally today after a lot of searching we found a group of transients off of Bowen Island, BC. There were 9 or 10 whales but no adult males, a few females and 4 calves! I managed to ID two of them so far as T36 and T36B. They were mostly just traveling along Bowen island, with the calves trying to chase a seal every now and then. Here are a couple pictures. The first was one of the young whales trying to catch up to the rest after chasing a seal for a bit (see photo above). The second picture has the Vancouver skyline in the background which makes for a pretty cool backdrop (see below) . Hope you like them! Cheers,
Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver
Transient orcas - T36s, with Vancouver, B.C. in the background
Oct. 24, 2009
Photo by Gary Sutton
Oct. 24
Transients: 5-6 off Bowen island Howe Sound, N.W. of Vancouver BC. mid afternoon.
Ron Bates, MMRG, Victoria, B.C.
