Transient orcas
Case Inlet, Puget Sound
Sept. 22, 2009
Photo by Cathryn Rice
Sept. 22
These are the photos from my Tuesday phone call telling you we were seeing 6 transient Orcas just north of Hartstine Island, headed north in Case Inlet. There are a few good shots of dorsal fins that might allow you to I.D. some of these guys, especially the one with the two notches on the following edge of the fin. We followed them for about 1 ½ hours, headed north through Case Inlet. We have a fabulous telephoto lens, so were not actually very close, and neither was anyone else, we're happy to report! And just for fun, I included a photo of a couple of sea lions sunning on the yellow bell buoy near Des Moines on the east shore of Puget Sound south of Seattle. We didn't see any breaches of spy hops, just moving along the surface for 3-4 minutes, then deep diving and disappearing for 10 minutes or so, then re- appearing further north. Thanks for all you do,
Cathryn Rice, Olalla, Washington (near Gig Harbor)
These whales were IDd by the Center for Whale Reesearch from photographs taken by Cascadia Research, as the T137's and T36A's - sb
