The Orca have still remained elusive around here. Tours again tried in vain to locate them even with one sightings report. There were, however Harbour and Dall’s Porpoise and Pacific White Sided Dolphins sightings locally. Other than the Southern Resident Orca known as J, K and L Pods being farther south and over around Tofino,…
Read more
I hope everyone had a great Canada Day! Today’s weather improved greatly over yesterday’s winds and the need for warmer clothing – where’s Summer? Reports include elusive Orca sightings, Pacific White Sided Dolphins, Harbour Porpoises, a couple of Humpback Whales and some noteworthy Sea Lions.Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC July 2: 9:45 am Report…
Read more
From so much activity to so few sightings. Although I skipped yesterdays few reports which are included below, today’s are just as few. I’ve had a few comments and discussions regarding the Pacific White Sided Dolphin strandings, and DFO’s Marine Mammal Response Network is asking for any photos to ascertain if the scratches that were…
Read more
Top NEWS story today was the stranding of 4 Pacific White Sided Dolphins in Oyster Bay just South of Campbell River. Was it the two groups of Transient (meat eating) Killer Whales that were in the area that chased them ashore? Short discussion follows the end of the usual sightings reports. Timely reminder that if…
Read more
Today’s sightings reports are all about Pacific White Sided Dolphins and Transient Orca. It is quite difficult to go back to work when Orca are breaching, spy hopping and tail slapping right in front of me! Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC Transient Orca Reports: June 27: Around 3 pm the winds had suddenly picked…
Read more
Lots of Transient Orca are in the neighbourhood – interspersed with Pacific White Sided Dolphins today. J and K Pod of Southern Resident Orca are still in Puget Sound and the Humpbacks seem to have gone North West. Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC June26: Transient Orca Reports throughout the day: 4:30 pm 8 of…
Read more
This morning’s reports started with a very broken radio transmissions about Whales….crackle, crackle….Spit…crackle. You get the picture. The Spit part will make sense when you read the reports farther down.Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC June 25:6:22 pm Two Humpback Whales and possibly a third were spotted again close in front of the Rona store…
Read more
Locally we had the same two Humpback Whales and a couple of groups of Pacific White Sided Dolphins. The Transient Orca were elusive again after their appearance yesterday – tomorrow they can be expected to make another appearance.Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC June 24:10:20 am Around 20 to 30 Pacific White Sided Dolphins slowly…
Read more
Busy day today with Humpback Whales, searching for those elusive Transient Orca, just to find that I, with a couple of friends on board, went right past them, and Pacific White Sided Dolphins in a couple of locations. The weather was mixed with gorgeous sunshine and calm seas intermixed with the occasional shower, wind, downpour…
Read more
Short report today of Transient Orca. Guess those Dolphins left the area for a reason. Sounds like thins are quite everywhere. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that it is a big ocean.Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC June 22:2 pm The same Three Transient Orca including T002C were found in Whale Pass by Rendezvous Island …
Read more
Sounds like the same three Transient Orca made their presence be known again in the same area they seem to prefer transiting. The Dolphins in our area are probably just trying to get past the Transient Orca so they can meet up with approximately 1000 Pacific White Sided Dolphins at the top of Johnstone Strait.Susan…
Read more
Today’s Sightings include Pacific White Sided Dolphins (see photos below) in front of Powell River, J and K Pods of Resident Orca in the San Juans, and Transient Orca and a Humpback Whale off Tofino. Good start to the Summer!Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC June 21:6 pm During a quick scan of the waters…
Read more
The Transients made their reappearance again today. Still running around the same are and not quite down to Powell River – but almost! Then the Pacific White Sided Dolphins came to the South end of Powell River, but didn’t go by. Perhaps they heard the Orca and decided that discretion is the better part of…
Read more
The Transient (meat eating) Killer Whales reappeared today. Although the reports below just say Orca, it is assumed that these are the same Transient Orca that were around over the past while. The only other Cetacean sightings report was of Dall’s Porpoise. And some very interesting Orca information from the D-Tagging project by NOAA and…
Read more
Due to the Stanley cup Hockey game and minimal sightings yesterday, today’s sightings report includes both June 15 and 16, 2011. Transient (meat eating) Orca are making themselves visible again. They seem to be running a pattern of alternating days of being visible and disappearing up one of the many inlets. Also, if you’d like…
Read more
Today and yesterday we had a Humpback Whale by Campbell River, but not sure if it’s the same one. Dall’s Porpoises including one Hybrid was spotted today as well as Pacific White Sided Dolphins. There’s one or two Common Dolphins (see report and photo below) in the San Juans and hundreds of Pacific White Sided…
Read more
Today’s sightings reports are minimal. The Transients seem to be either farther down South, as in the ones that headed that way last evening, or farther up North. It appears we have a very busy day followed by a quiet one then back to busy. Unusual cycle, but there are a few photos of the…
Read more
As I started typing this there were Transient Orca right out in front with their blows highlighted by the sun as the head towards Grief Point. A great end to a great day on the water with eleven people from the Malaspina Naturalist Group out on a “Whale Seeking” tour that found two groups of…
Read more
There were Orca this morning and this afternoon, but they are very good at hiding. Dall’s Porpoises again were spotted a few times as well as Pacific White Sided Dolphins. The reports are below. I’m most excited to report that the Gray Whale that was spotted yesterday (see photos below) by Brown’s Bay is “Dusty”…
Read more
Out in front of Powell River there have been no confirmed sightings of any whales or dolphins yesterday or today. I did however see what I thought was possibly a larger blow and back (Humpback?) between the mill and Harwood Island around mid-day today. Unfortunately, not seeing it again, leaves it off the “official” list.…
Read more
It was a good day for the tours that were on the water today with Garry finding the Transient Orca that had evaded them for days. Thanks also to him for the consistent reports and current photos shared with everyone. In front of Powell River things were quiet till this evening when the Dolphins showed…
Read more
It was a bit windy today on the water making sightings a bit tough. The tours out from Campbell River today could not locate the group of 5 Transient Orca that are sporadically seen around the Sutil Channel to Bute Inlet area. See report below. Recent sightings report a Gray Whale, nicknamed Dusty, that was…
Read more
Today was a day of Dolphins and Porpoises again. There were no Orca sightings reports from anywhere today (that is from Washington State to Queen Charlotte Strait). A couple or three Humpback Whales at the top of Johnstone Strait, one in Washington State. And some Minke Whales around the Seattle area. US information thanks to…
Read more
June 4: 8:45 pm Around 60 or more Pacific White Sided Dolphins were in a foraging / feeding pattern with the occasional leap thrown in at the top end of Texada. They headed into the Strait noses pointed towards Comox. Thanks to the heads up from Steve G. June 4: Email received at 8 pm:…
Read more
It’s been quiet around these parts. The Transient Orca went South and some North-West. The last ones reported haven’t been found in the various channels and inlets. There have been more sightings of the smaller cetaceans such as, Harbour and Dalls Porpoises, and Pacific White Sided Dolphins. Though I understand that there were quite a…
Read more
To start I’d like to mention that I did test the link from yesterday to the nautical charts from NOAA and they only work for US waters. The rest are as blotchy and blocky as they’ve always been, I do not know if downloading it would interfere with the actual CHS charts for Canadian waters,…
Read more
May 30:Another active day today ending with great lighting and a group of Pacific White Sided Dolphins I can still barely see heading West out between Rebecca Rocks and Harwood Island in front of Powell River.Listening to the marine radio today I was quite envious of the whale watchers. The Transient (meat eating) Orca put…
Read more
The big excitement yesterday were the Southern Resident Orca in our area – not a common sight. They were last seen still Southbound aroun 6 pm off Cape Mudge, but nothing today. Today, we’re back to Transient Orca with a couple Dalls Porpises keeping out of their way. Photos for yesterday’s Southern Resident Orca below.Susan…
Read more
The morning started with white caps in the Strait, so spotting anything was difficult. The tours out of Campbell River headed up inlets and into Johnstone Strait in search of the unidentified Orca from late yesterday or the reported Eastbound Orca from 3 am or so this morning. The big surprise was that they found…
Read more
At least some Orca are around our area. Since the report came in late, no-one was left out on the water to identify them. The Superpod of Transients were by the US/Canada border yesterday (see reports below) but could have made it back up here. In addition, there were some Dalls Porpoises, a Humpback Whale,…
Read more
