Sightings Orca, Dolphins, Humpback, Porpoise
Sightings of Pacific White Sided Dolphins, Transient Killer Whales, Humpback Whales and Dall’s Porpoise.
‘Whale Encounters’
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 7 pm I will be speaking as part of the Lecture Series, open to the public, at the Powell River campus of the Vancouver Island University.
This multimedia presentation will delve into cetacean identification, species interactions and behaviours with other marine species, including their food, and humans. Listen to their "talk" as they socialize, echo-locate and forage for food.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
Transient Orca
October 9:
5 pm Three Transient Orca by Brown’s Bay, above Campbell River Northbound. No Identifications.
3 pm T20 and T21 were Northbound in Seymour Narrows.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
October 7:
2 pm Transients First spotted at Penn Islands, Sutil Channel, T002’s with the newborn calf were left still headed South by Hill Island.
October 5:
5 pm 3 Orca – 2 males by Chatham Point. By 6 pm the second group of another 3 Transients was spotted by Separation Head, Discovery Passage. They were spread out by Brown’s Bay with one group headed in a North-West direction while the other group was Southbound. One big male had a floppy dorsal.
3 pm Pod of Orca by the red light (assumed by Cape Mudge Radio caller just announced the report- SM) Soon after, around 8 to 10 Transients were spotted by AJ by McMullen Point.
Humpback Whales
October 9:
4 pm Humpback was cruising around by Granite Point, Kanish Bay.
October 8:
10:45 am Humpback Whale, possibly the one known as ‘Arial’, was back and forth by Kanish Bay.
Nick Templeman, Eagle Eye Adventures
October 7:
5:40 pm Left Humpback at Kanish Bay headed Southbound.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
October 6:
10:30 am Spotted Humpback by Kanish Bay, but gave us the slip and no flukes. (for ID purposes). 60+ Sealions at Jimmy Judd Island, Yuculta Rapids, and another 150+ Sealions at Mitlenatch Island. 3 nice Black Bears completes our tally for the day….no Orca.
Nick Templeman, Eagle Eye Adventures
Pacific White Sided Dolphins
October 9:
4 pm 12 or so Pacific White Sided Dolphins were between Savary Island closer to the end of Harwood Island with their noses pointed towards Sliammon and Powell River. (I watched for them, but never did see any closer to Powell River – SM)
Joan Treen, Savary Island
October 5:
8:30 am Around 15 Dolphins Northbound by Duncan Bay, Campbell River.
Dall’s Porpoise
October 5:
3:15 pm 6 Dall’s Porpoise were foraging by Henrietta Point, Bute Inlet.
Puget Sound Reports
submitted by:
Susan Berta and Howard Garrett, Orca Network, Whidbey Island, WA
Orca
October 4
1:15 pm – SRKWs (no pod ID yet) travelling south fast just snuck up on Beam Reach students while they were measuring water properties at Turn Point. Whales are traveling south and southeast. Beam Reach students were with resident orcas from 12:47 pm slightly north of Turn Point to 2:30 pm, just south of Turn Point.
Beam Reach
Beam Reach
October 3
~15-20 orcas right off the Tsawwassen ferry terminal (south of Vancouver BC) this morning as the Spirit of Vancouver Island came into dock at 9:30 a.m. Very spread out but one male (with two others — female and juvenile?) was very close in between the ferry dock and the DeltaPort container shipping terminal. Seemed mostly to be females / juveniles. What a great way to start the week.
Melissa T Anderson
Melissa T Anderson
October 3
Our Desolation Sound guided flotilla spotted 6-7 Orcas in Malaspina Strait (northeast Georgia Strait) at approximately 1145 on 10-3-11. The whales were never close enough for us to get a good ID photo, but there appeared to be at least one large male in the group. They were first sighted near McRae Islet off of Stillwater Bay (49 44.235 N, 124 18.638 W). Somewhere between there and Cockburn Point, the Orcas dove. We lost sight of them and the next time we could account for them they had crossed the strait and were closer over to the Texada Island side.
Emmelina Mojica
Emmelina Mojica
October 2
It’s getting to that time of year. The lighting is getting a bit softer, the temperatures are dropping. But the wildlife still abounds! And they are busy feeding! Our first stop on our trip today was Speiden Island, where 4 Steller Sea Lions were busy eating salmon–tossing them about at the surface while the gulls tried to snatch a piece when they could. Then a harbor seal was seen near Sentinel Rock eating the last bits of an octopus! The Dall’s porpoises were busy feeding on fish and dashing about and then diving deep. Soon it was time to go visit the orcas, and we were lucky enough to see L2 Grace, L5 Tanya, L78 Gaia, L54 Ino, L100 Indigo, L108 Coho, L117 (un-named until next year), and of course my favorite L88 Wavewalker! L88 set about doing some serious fishing near Kellett Bluff while another whale spyhopped nearby. The water was flat calm, and the blows as whales foraged echoed over the water. Meanwhile, under water the orca symphony was in full swing as the whales talked amongst themselves. It was a very amazing day.
John Boyd (JB), SSAMN Marine Naturalist, Western Explorer
John Boyd (JB), SSAMN Marine Naturalist, Western Explorer
Humpbacks
October 5
Pretty sure what I saw this afternoon, was a pod of humpback whales southbound in Swanson Channel. There was several boats with them, not the usual whale watching boats though, but definitely watching them. Let me know if anyone else did.
Elizabeth – Pender Island
October 5
2:24 PM – It looked like 2 gray whales just went by beddis rock, Pender island, heading towards Trincomali. Just wondering if anybody else saw them?
Shelley
October 3
A bit cooler with sun trying to break through clouds, fairly calm water with a less than 2′ ebbing tide made for a pleasant sighting of a Humpback Whale! First spotted off of San Juan Island Hannah Heights at about 1:15pm, heading across Haro Strait at 2:05pm. The whale seemed to be foraging, zigzagging back and forth, near shore then more toward Hein Bank and Canada. Also saw Dall’s Porpoise, perhaps socializing with the Humpback? Nice to see more Humpbacks visiting the Salish Sea!
Caroline Armon. OnBoard Tours
October 2
We were out on Sunday the 2nd looking for whales and we came upon one, maybe two humpbacks, 1.8nm east of Seabird Point on Discovery Island (east of Victoria) traveling slowly southwest. Wonderful experience out in the fog.
Keith Provan, AScT
