Whale Sightings and Hummingbirds

Today we did get some Orca – reports follow. Still not sure if these are Residents or Transients though. It’s a bit too cold and choppy to get out on the water for ID’s. Their behaviour makes me lean towards Transients rather than Resident Orca. Wonderful to have everyone letting me know so I can post the information – Thank you for networking and good eyes !

As for the Anna’s Hummingbirds, thank you for all your emails. With many comments of surprise to have Winter Hummingbirds, I also heard of many other Winter Hummers in Gibsons, Sechelt, Lang Bay, all along the Sunshine Coast and up to Lund. Sounds like lots more people will be putting feeders out too.

10:30 am Call came in that there was a large group of Orca headed Northward from Lang Bay. They were spread out across the channel.

11 am Call came in that there were whales coming towards Grief Point.

12:30 pm Over 300 Seagulls were feeding on what looked like possibly a very large herring ball. Although something must be chasing the food up and there were a few splashes that looked to be too large for birds to make, there was no clear view of any dorsals from Orca or Dolphins.

Hello Susan,

Did you happen to see the 2 pods of Orcas going North Jan. 19, today around 1 pm. I haven’t seen them this week but I wondered why cars were stopping along Marine Avenue. I live at Beacon B&B Spa so looked out on the water and there they were. I read your notes from January 17th and I think these appear to be the same whales you indicated on that date. There appeared to be a large one and in another location was a baby. They were fairly close by but still hard to detect how many of them there were. Happy whale watching,

1:30 pm After the "Orca out in front" sighting call from neighbour Steve Grover, I got binoculars on at least 4 Orca out in front of Westview Powell River. One male breached just off the Viewpoint as it headed in towards shore. About 2 pm An additional 3 Orca (1 Male, 1 Female & 1 Juvenile) passed by making my total count 7 Orca. They were not wasting time in heading Northward towards Atrevida Reef.

Later email report back from Steve:I never got a great look at the entire pod but I think 5 were there. I did get some shots of the bull off the deck. You can actually see the dorsal quite clearly in these shots. (see photo)

Just a hint of how far reaching the internet is: I received a late third hand report of some Orca by Cape Mudge lightstation on the afternoon of January 9^th. The report came from Jodie in the UK

 

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