T103

Nov. 17
T103 was in Becher Bay (west of Race Rocks) Tuesday afternoon.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

T046s

Nov. 16
Had the T046's this afternoon east bound along the shoreline of Vancouver Island west of Race Rocks. Strong south-west winds and heavy rain made for a brief encounter.
Mark Malleson, Victoria B.C.

Nov. 16
I am reporting the sighting of 6 or perhaps 7 Orca on Monday November 16, 2009 about 1/2 mile NNE of Race Rocks, British Columbia. The Orca were all female with 1 yearling calf. When first contacted the Orca were swirling in a feeding pattern but I did not see any sign of mammals on the surface so I am assuming these animals were residents.
The Orca stayed in one area and then moved away at a high rate of speed (~10 NMPH) moving in dolphin fashion rather than their normal movement. After moving for about 5 minutes they again swirled for several minutes and then moved away again and again at a high rate of speed. Direction of movement was NNE towards Constance Bank but we did not follow them that far.
Contact time was 1510 - 1530. We were in pouring rain the entire 20 minutes we were with the Orca. Surface was choppy with occasional whitecaps. Saw 3 spy hops. No photographs were taken.
And an update:
Yesterday (November 16) I reported contacting 6 or 7 Orcas NNE of Race Rocks, Victoria. I speculated that these were resident Orcas. In conversation with another driver today I was informed that they were only 5 Orcas and they were the T46 pod. The other driver had been with this pod earlier in the day as they moved east from Beacher Bay. He left the Orcas as they entered Race Passage as this is a no-go area for whale watching boats. I had the good fortune to contact the pod as they came out the other side of Race Passage. Sincerely,
Submitted by James Cosgrove, M.Sc., Driver/Biologist of Fastide, SpringTide Whale Watching, Victoria, B.C.

U38 & U39, T103, T049As

Transient orca
having lunch
Victoria, B.C.
November 10, 2009
Photo by
Mark Malleson

Nov. 10
U38 and U39 were off of Victoria again all day today taking out seals. I saw at least 7 seal kills throughout the day. They led me to T103 and the T049A's who were in the process of digesting a prey item themselves.
Mark Malleson

U38 & U39

Transient orcas
U38 & 39
Victoria, B.C.
November 8, 2009
Photo by
Mark Malleson

Novv. 8
Had Transient orcas U38 and U39 once again off of Victoria (see above photo) on Sunday afternoon (11/8). They took out at least 5 seals within 2 hours. I left them at dark headed back towards Race Rocks.
Mark Malleson, Independent Tsearch

Nov. 8
Jeff LaMarche of Eagle Wing whale watch tours called at 3:15 pm to report they were with California Transient orcas U38 & U39, 2.5 miles east of Race Rocks. The whales were heading NE toward Victoria, B.C.

T103 and T49s

Nov. 7
I see you have reports from Nov.08 but no Nov.07. T103 and his group of T49's were off Race Rocks at 1550 Nov.07 going S.W.
Ron Bates, MMRG, Victoria, B.C.

T103s, T49s, U38 & U39

Transient Orcas
U38 & U39
Race Rocks, B.C.
Nov. 3, 2009
Photo by
Adam U


Nov. 3
Mark Malleson, Pina Gruden (from Morigenos, a Slovenian non-profit marine mammal research and conservation society), and I joined Mark on Gonzales lookout in Victoria and saw blows towards Race Rocks, followed by another group closer to the Victoria waterfront. We launched and after a quick search we encountered U38 and U39 (U stands for "Unknown" since these animals have yet to be confirmed members of the west coast T community) swimming towards T103 and T49A group who were exhibiting typical post-kill behaviour. The two groups got to within 300m of each other but never mixed. We ended the encounter approximately an hour after first contact. That's about it! Have fun,
-Ada U

Nov. 3
T103, T49's U38 and U39 off Victoria this afternoon, just a few miles South of the harbor mouth.When last seen the U's were going to Race Rocks the rest just milling.
Ron Bates, MMRG, Victoria B.C.

T103, T049As

Nov. 1
Found T103 with the T049A's again today (11/1), this time on the American side of the Juan de Fuca west of Crescent Bay east bound. I left them at 1345 on a line for Race Rocks. T103 has been spotted 5 out of the last 6 days in the vicinity of Victoria and the last 4 encounters has been with the T049A's.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

T103s, T49s

Transient orca calf
With prey in mouth
Race Rocks, B.C.
Oct. 31, 2009
Photo by Andrew Lees


Transient Orca
T49 pod
Race Rocks, B.C.
Oct. 31, 2009
Photo by
Andrew Lees

Transient Orca T103
Race Rocks, B.C.
Oct. 31, 2009
Photo by
Andrew Lees

Oct. 31
Happy Halloween! We set out at 2.00 pm today (10/31) for our final tour of the 2009 season and what a magnificent tour it turned out to be :)
After already having had encounters with a Seal, a Sealion and very active Dall's Porpoise, we found T103 & T49's off Race Rocks. Regards,
Andrew Lees, Marine Naturalist, Five Star Whale Watching

Oct. 31
T49's (3) and T103 off Race this afternoon (10/31). Something was good for a late lunch (see photo of the day!). Hope all had a good Halloween
Ron Bates, MMRG, Victoria B.C.

T049s, T103

Oct. 28
T103 was off Victoria again today this time with the T049A, T049A1, and T049A2. They spent all afternoon milling around between Race Rocks and Constance Bank.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

T103

Transient orca T103
skulking around the Steller Sealion colony
at Race Rocks B.C.
Oct. 27, 3009
Photo by Mark Malleson

Oct. 27
T103 was first spotted off of Victoria this morning heading west. I left him west of Race Rocks heading south west in the Juan de Fuca Strait at 1415.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria

T36s, T46s, T99s

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.

T87, T88

Transient orcas
T88 & T87
Race Rocks, B.C.
Oct. 19, 2009
Photo by
Marie O'Shaughnessy

Oct. 19
The Ocean Magic at 12.15pm today Oct 19th picked up two Transient Orca whose ID were T 87, the male and T 88 , the female (see above photo). They were spotted east of Race Rocks and south of Victoria near Constance Bank. They had just made a kill before we arrived so we didn't see any real aggressive foraging behaviours while were with them. They were milling around for a while with fairly long dives and then they headed west toward Race Rocks. We didn't see any Humpbacks nor Porpoise on this trip - perhaps word was out that ' Transients ' were back in town. We did however see, several groups of sea lions cruising around which, for all intents and purposes the two Transients ignored.
Marie,Orca-Magic, Prince Of Whales, Victoria.

T55

No orcas present.

The T55s were reported in johnstone Strait this morning.
Helena
02 Oct 2009 10:50:57 PDT

T19s

Sept. 29
I just returned from Sidney on the ferry and saw T19B and three or four others off Shaw Island west shore heading south at 1340 today. Got a few long-shot pics from the ferry.
Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research

Sept. 29
Despite the rain, we did our best to track a group of transient orcas in San Juan Channel at Turn Island. There were 5-6 animals that were identified as the T19s by another boat. Their foraging pattern was very spread out and random, so we spent a lot of time motoring back and forth. There was at least one kill made while we were on scene, but the victim was unidentified as to species. We left the area at 1515 hours as the animals were heading south down the channel.
~Tristen Joy, Naturalist, Crew At San Juan Safaris Whale Watch Wildlife Tours

T36As

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

T137s, T36As

Sept. 28
01:10 am - About 5 minutes ago began hearing whistles and calls on the Port Townsend hydrophone that sound like Transients to me. Began recording at 01:13 PDT. Now nice clear calls and whistles. Will post recording to OrcaSound once they've passed.
Scott Veirs, Beam Reach/OrcaSound
This was likely the T137s & T36As heading out of Admiralty Inlet - sb

T63, T65s, T14

Transient orca
T63, "Chainsaw"
Beecher Bay, B.C.
Sept. 26, 2009
Photo by
Marie O'Shaughnessy
Photo cropped

Sept. 26
Just wanted to let you know that when I was out on the Ocean Magic, Sat. Sept 26 at 3.30pm, we headed out west toward Sooke and encountered 6 Transient Orca at Beecher Bay, Vancouver Island. T 63 'Chainsaw ', with that unique dorsal fin all chewed up, was traveling with T 65 and T65B. It was the first time I have ever seen him. There was another female and youngster traveling along with this group, and trailing way behind was old T 14 , 'Pender' . He seemed to be shadowing but was clearly, from my perspective, wanting to be within range of the group but not in the group. Interesting to watch. All the transients were heading east along the shoreline and then south east off Race Rocks. We left them to visit the four very active Humpback Whales just off Victoria. It was a great trip and a great time of year with all the sunshine of late.
Marie O'Shaughnessy. Orca-Magic. POW

T137s, T36As

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

T30s

Sept. 14
We sent the photos of the orcas off Whidbey Island Sept, 14 to the Center for Whale Research, and received this ID from Dave Ellifrit:
Looks like the (transient orcas) T30's.

T137s, T36A & T36A1

Five Transient orcas
Possession Sound
Sept. 7, 2009
Aerial Photo by
Veronica von Allworden
Sky and Sea Photography

IDs of South Sound (& So. Whidbey Isl). Transients:
Word from Dave Ellifrit (Center for Whale Research) is that they are the T137's with T36A and her juvenile offspring T36A1.
Erin Falcone, Cascadia Research, Olympia

Sept. 7
What a fantastic day! This is the first time in years that I was here the same time orcas showed up in Saratoga Passage! Around 11:45 AM we spotted them from Langley near Camano Head and heading in a SE direction. They were moving along at a fairly good pace occasionally changing direction and out of site by 12:20. At 1:30 PM we spotted them from our plane 1/2 mile south of the Clinton ferry heading towards Possession Point. After we landed I drove down to Possession Point Park and watched them pass a ways off shore at 2:20- 2:30 PM. There was some occasional tail slapping, two spy hops, and swimming right along with all of the boat traffic. It was fabulous to see them and I hope my pictures (see above, and also Photo of the Day) help with the ID. From the air we could clearly see that there were 5 orcas. It was more difficult to tell from shore.
Veronica von Allworden, Langley, Whidbey Island

Sept. 7
Orca Network received a report of orcas in Saratoga Passage, 1 mile south of Elger Bay at 8:46 am, but no direction of travel was given. Then we received the report below, so headed south to Langley. We first found the pod at 11:40 am from the shore at Bell's Beach, they were between Langley and Camano Head, milling amongst the many boats in the area. Then they headed toward Langley, so we went south, and found them again at 12:10 pm, just heading around Sandy Pt. We clearly were able to count 5 fins surfacing several times, as they headed south into Possession Sound. From 1:15 - 1:30 pm we watched from the Clinton shoreline, as the orcas were actively jumping and likely feeding, between the Mukilteo Lighthouse & the Clinton Ferry Landing, then they headed on south down Possession Sound.
Looking at Veronica's photos, and the timeline of reports from Olympia, to Seattle, to S. Whidbey, we are certain these are the 5 Transient orcas observed in South Puget Sound Aug. 31 - Sept. 5 - the T137s, T36A & 36A1 - sb.b>

Sept. 7
This morning in Saratoga passage from our home on Camano Island at Mabana Beach, we saw 3-4 Orca Whales closer to Whidbey Island (but several miles north of Langley). They were traveling both north and south in what appeared to be circles, playing, jumping, tail splashing, and possibly feeding. There are clearly fish jumping out there, but we are unsure what type of fish. We spotted them beginning at around 9:15am and are continuing to watch them at this time (10:18 am). There is one Orca in the group that appears to be smaller than the rest of them. We are CERTAIN there are three, but fairly sure there are actually four of them altogether. We hope this helps!
The Underhill Family, Camano Island