Unknown transients in JS with A36s

Photo credit: Jackie Hildering

Stubbs Island Whale watching reports

This is the second day in a row that Nature has provided us the opportunity to see both "transient" (mammal-eating) and "resident " (fish-eating) killer whales in the same area. This was another group of transients though - 4 mature females and a calf that were extremely challenging to identify as individuals. At the time of this report, we are still scrutinizing the photos to try to conclude who they were. The opportunity to identify transients is of such interest that we have sent through the images to Dr. John Ford and Graeme Ellis who are currently conducting whale research with his team on the Coast Guard vessel the J.P. Tully.

It was interesting to see the transients change their dive patterns when the A36 matriline of fish-eating killer whales become vocal. The transients started taking much longer dives and seemed to move to stay clear of where the A36s were foraging. The transients did not appear to be interested in feeding as many (lucky) Dalls porpoises were in the area oblivious of the presence of the stealthy transients.


Orcalab reports
Orcas rubbing on the shore bottom.

The A36s with A12 carried on past critical Point and just now we have heard someone in on the Beaches. They may be turning back west from there. Also, a group of 5 transients went south in Blackney pass and entered Johnstone Strait by 2:10pm. They have gone east.
Helena
24 Jul 2009 14:57:29 PDT

T2s

Stubbs Island Whale Watching reports
The word came in this morning, killer whales at Boat Bay! The first sighting was of a group of 6 Pacific white-sided dolphins moving very slowly, from their perspective, quietly, out of Boat Bay. A couple of minutes later a group of killer whales appeared, likewise moving with stealth. These were the T02 group of transient (marine mammal hunting) killer whales.

The remainder of the morning was spent following these transients who were on course to meet a group of resident fish-eating killer whales who were entering Johnstone Strait from Blackney Pass. A fascinating encounter for our guests, with both groups appearing to be aware of the others presence and consequently taking evasive action to avoid contact.

T2s

The T2s off Campbell River today.. :)
Aaron Webber@Campbell River
14 Jul 2009 21:43:20 PDT

Transients T020 and T021 in JS

No calls but orcas nearby

It is possible that the group of transients who were in Queen Charlotte Strait have appeared in Blackney Pass. There are 6, in two groups o 4 and 2. They are moving very slowly towards Johnstone Strait.
Helena
12 Jul 2009 19:45:43 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby

The male and female pair of transients has doubled back through Blackney Pass. They are on their way to Blackfish Sound. So far there is no sign of the other four. A12 gave a couple of calls before the transients exited Johnstone Strait. We have not heard her since so we don't know if she has kept going west. The tide is ebbing and so might encourage her to do so.
Helena
12 Jul 2009 21:33:53 PDT

Distant calls audible.

The evening gets more and more interesting. We heard transient calls briefly in Johnstone Strait. We were not able to source the calls other than generally.
Helena
12 Jul 2009 22:12:04 PDT

Distant calls audible.

Those last transient calls, a short while ago were in Johnstone Strait. This probably means, the group of four (two females, two juveniles, stayed straitside while the pair travelled north in Blackney Pass. We do not know where A12 might have gotten to..
Helena
12 Jul 2009 23:10:45 PDT

Seasmoke reports
With a report of possible inbound orcas from the Numas Islands we headed in that direction and were thrilled to see their dorsal fins ahead of us and west of the Foster Islands. The six orcas were traveling slowly together in a line and were very relaxed for Transient orcas. T020 and t021 were among those orcas sighted.

Transient T40
"Captain Hook"
off Juneau, SE Alaska
July 11, 2009
Photo by Eric Ogren

July 5 - 11
Last week saw T40 and four to five other transients in Endicott Arm two miles from Ford's Terror and a day later more transients in Endicott searching for seals. May have some good I'd shots of them as well as of a pod of at least 20 residents off Point Coke on our way to Juneau. Several babies who played in front of us until mama came and with audible vocalization appeared to be chastising them and took them away. Pictures when I return to Friday Harbor.
Shannon Bailey, MV Catalyst.

July 2009
My wife, daughter and I went out of Juneau on the Adventure Bound glacier tour boat and came across a couple of orcas on our way back to town. They appeared to be a male and female with the male having a large bend in his dorsal fin. We weren't able to get any saddle pics but thought his uniqueness might give him away.
Eric Ogren

Researchers at the Center for Whale Research confirmed my suspicion that this was Transient T40, or Captain Hook - sb

July 2009
A little more info. on this photo & report of T40 from yesterday's report:
The picture was taken 7/11 at approximately 5:25pm just outside of Taku inlet south of Juneau.
Eric Ogren

T40

Transients
Endicott Arm,
SE Alaska
July 10, 2009
Photo by
Shannon Bailey

July 9 - 10
Group of transients, with Captain Hook T-40 in lead on July 9 and on July 10 two hunting alone for seals among the ice bergs (with the eagle and the seal hiding out) - see photo above. The orcas hunt this area around floating ice coming from Dawes Glacier where the seals have pupped and are now molting.
Shannon Bailey, MV Catalyst

Uncatalogued Transients

No orcas present.

There weren't any resident orcas today but there was some transient activity near Port McNeill. These whales headed off to the west. The Department of Fisheries reported that these were unusual, uncatalogued, transients. This doesn't happen very often so this was exciting and interesting.
Helena
03 Jul 2009 23:19:40 PDT

T36s

June 21
Hi, Just reporting a sighting of a pod of Orcas right off Mutiny Bay on Whidbey Island. It was about 3pm on June 21st. They were heading towards Seattle initially but then turned around and appeared to be circling in the shipping channel. We aren't familiar with the various pods but this one seemed to include at least 7 whales, including one baby and another younger (1 year old?) one. They were traveling then would stop, play and go in various directions. They seemed to be feeding on something-we saw lots of fish on our fish finder and some dolphins in the distance but couldn't really see what they were eating.
Caron McCune

June 21
I had a look at Lindsey McCune's photos of the transients (off Whidbey Island) and she definitely had the T36's. Warmest Regards,
Simon Pidcock, Ocean Ecoventures

T14, T20, T2s

Northbound transient Orcas outside Campbell River. Possibly T20 and others
Aboriginal Journeys@Campbell River
24 Jun 2009 09:49:34 PDT

Update on the Transients just north of Campbell River T 14 , T20 n T2's at 11:30 am
Aboriginal Journeys@Campbell River
24 Jun 2009 11:43:26 PDT

T036, T036B, T036C, T099, and T099B

Transient orcas - T36's
Mutiny Bay, Whidbey Island
June 21
Photo by Lindsey McCune

Jared Towers of Canada's Cetacean Research Program, Pacific Biological Field Station has further ID's on the Transient orcas photographed off S. Whidbey Island June 21st:
The animals I can confirm are as follows. T036, T036B, T036C, T099, and T099B. T099A is likely there as well but can't confirm it at low resolution. kind regards,
Jared Towers, Cetacean Research Program, Pacific Biological Station

June 21
I just wanted to send you some photos (link at the end of this email) I took of the orcas we saw on the 21st. It was pretty incredible and it was a complete fluke that I even had my camera with me. As my Mom said, they were in or very close to Mutiny Bay at around 3pm. It was the first time we had taken the boat out this year and thought at most we might see some seals or porpoises; we have been going out around this area for many summers and had never seen orcas before. When we first saw them in the distance, we thought they were porpoises but as we got a little closer, we could see their big fins and realized they were orcas. Needless to say, we were in complete awe. We tried to maintain a respectful distance as we did not want to upset them. But they actually seemed quite curious about our boat (which was 19ft) and swam in closer to us. We shut off the engine and they acted very playful.
I'm sure you can tell more from the photos than I can but I believe there were at least 7 or 8 of them. There was one "baby" that looked very new, he is in a couple of photos. There was another small one too but he didn't look brand new. A couple of them have some pretty distinctive notches in their dorsal fins so maybe that could help to identify them. I am not an experienced photographer at all and this was one of the first times I had ever used my camera but I pretty much just took as many shots as I could and got really lucky with a few of them.
We were blown away by our encounter with these magnificent creatures and are eager to know more about them if possible. thank you!
Lindsey McCune

T2s, T14, T20 and T21

June 20
We had T2's, T14 and T20 and 21 pass by Campbell River this morning, last seen south bound at Bates Beach, Comox.
Matthew Ellis, Eagle Eye Adventures, Campbell River

T49s

June 20
T49A, T49A1 and T49A2 were skulking around between Race Rocks and Pedder Bay for most of the day on June 20.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria BC

T11s

June 19
T11 et al was headed east in the Straits off Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island on Friday.
Brad Hanson, NOAA Fisheries NWFSC, Seattle

T2's, T90's and T14

June 15
Hey Susan, We had some Transient's off Quadra Island today (6/15) found by "Neptune " (Simon) all the way from Cowichan Bay "Ocean eco ventures". Identified as the T2's, possibly T90's and met up with T14 . Way to go!
Matthew Ellis, Eagle Eye Adventures

T20 & T21

Transient Orcas
T20 & T21
Salt Spring Island, B.C.
June 15, 2009
Photo by Joan Lopez


June 15
We were on our way to the Victoria area this afternoon (6/15) to watch the 3 Transient's that had shown up there, when something in the water caught the eye of Captain John. We were just south of Beaver Point on Saltspring Island when T20 and T21 surfaced. They were doing very long dives, 7-8 minutes at a time, and were likely resting. They still followed a zig-zagging pattern though, making it very difficult to predict where they would surface again. Given the long dives, it was pure chance that these whales were spotted at all. It was a treat for our passengers to have these two whales all to themselves for about 20 minutes, when the next boat arrived on scene. We left T20 and T21 after 4 PM, travelling in a mostly northerly direction towards Navy Channel.
Joan Lopez, Vancouver Whale Watch

Transient Orcas
June 2, 2009
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Photo by Andrew Lees

June 1
What a magnificent start to Orca Month with over 20 Transient Orcas in the Strait of Juan De Fuca! (see above photo) During our afternoon tour we were incredibly fortunate to not only observe two Harbor Seal kills by the Transient Orcas but a greeting ceremony as two different groups met North of Port Angeles. We observed one dramatic kill in particular as a young Orca porpoised directly towards a harbor Seal and then exploded onto the poor unsuspecting Seal! Later as the two groups met we saw a number of tailslaps, Spyhops, pectoral waves and breaches, it was breathtaking to watch.
Andrew Lees, Marine Naturalist, Five Star Whale Watching

June 1
Another morning starting out without knowing where or if there were any Orcas close by. Then the call came - 3 miles N of Dungeness Spit, which is near Sequim. We got there in about 50 minutes and watched a spectacular scene. One of the other captains announced that there was a seal to the port side of his boat. No sooner said, three female orcas headed toward the poor seal at top speed, porpoising through the water with blazing speed. The captain said he just saw the seal turn its head toward the onrushing Orcas about a second before he was gone. This all happened so quickly that I missed most of it with my camera but not the eyes. We left about 4:00 PM and shortly after that the last boat on scene departed and the Ts were not to be found again yesterday evening.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters

T14

June 13
Transient orca T14 south end of Quadra Island. 3 other orcas bute inlet.
Aaron Webber, Campbell River Whale watching

T10, T10B & T10C

June 12
Transient orcas T10, T10b, and T10c off quadra island, B.C. Canada @ 1100 heading north.
Aaron webber, Campbell River whale watching

T20 T21

June 10
As if that wasn't magic enough (see above report), on the way back we sighted two more Orca off Seabird Lighthouse, Discovery Island, and they turned out to be T 20 and T 21. We only saw them once and then they disappeared.
Marie , Orca-Magic POW, Victoria B.C.

T125, T127, T125A and T128

June 9
I was forwarded an e-mail and photos from Julia regarding a group of killer whales. She got some pretty good photos so hopefully someone can identify who this group of (transient?) killer whales is.
Thanks, Dawn Noren, NOAA Fisheries
Forwarded report:
My name is Julia and I am working with pinnipeds at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, OR. On Tuesday (June 9) I saw a group of at least 8 orcas off the central Oregon coast traveling southwards, between 5:40 pm and around 9:00 pm. The group consisted of two big males (one of them has a very remarkable dorsal fin - looks like cut at the tip), several adult females and probably one calf. The first sighting was at 5:41 pm pretty close to the shore in Depoe Bay. They spent about 20 minutes in the bay before slowly traveling south. A sea lion was present but the orcas seemed not to be interested at all. I followed them and saw them again off Rocky Creek State Park, Otter Crest and Cape Foulweather. Off Rocky Creek they were playing (or hunting?) and breaching. One of the big males separated from the group (maybe with one or more group members) and continued traveling south. From time to time they swam farther off shore and were hard to see. I ended up watching at Moolack Beach where the they were pretty close to the beach again. They showed almost the same behavior as off Rocky Creek for at least an hour. Around sunset they swam farther off shore again and I lost sight.
I hope this information and the pictures are helpful and usable! Best regards
Julia, Newport, OR

We forwarded these photos to orca researchers and received the following replies:
"I can ID T125 and T127 from the attached photos. It would be likely that both T125A and T128 would be present as well. These animals are usually seen near Langara Island so it's nice to have an encounter of them so far to the south. best regards,
Jared Towers, Canada's DFO Pacific Biological Field Station, B.C.
And from Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research:
"Looks like T125 and T127 plus others."