Transient Orca and Pacific White Sided Dolphins

Sightings of Whales moving in from their winter feeding grounds and a few Transient Orca around. Pacific White Sided Dolphins seem to have been wintering in the Howe Sound area in numbers…..wondered where they were. More Grey Whales showing up in the Puget Sound area.

Call from regular contributor Garry Henkel of 7 to 10 Orca by Campbell River. There were 2 big males. He had heard they were Northbound by Cape Mudge around 10am and at 12:40 pm they were around the Browns Bayarea looking like they were chasing seals. His call came in as he was watching the Orca breaching and spy hopping as we spoke between 6:50 and 7 pm . They did not have a direction in mind, but seemed to be milling about.

Hi Susan,

There were 4 or 5 orcas in front of Campbell River yesterday (March 24) between 5 and 6 pm, quite playful and slowly heading south. They seemed to be deliberately staying close to a couple of pleasure boats that were drifting near them.

Around 1:40 pm today, 5 orcas swam westward through Active Pass. They did some rapid porpoising as the ferry went by them. Transients?
Karoline Cullen, Galiano Island, BC submitted by Orca Network

About 4 pm today those of us on the the BC ferry ‘spirit of Vancouver island’ were thrilled to briefly see about a half dozen orcas in the channel between Galiano and Mayne islands.
David Freed submitted by Orca Network

Hi, on March 11 we were at Neck Point Park in Nanaimo, at around 11 am, at a spot facing North looking up the Strait and saw 5 Orcas about 100 yards off shore. One had a very large dorsal fin and there appeared to be a baby with them. We didn’t know where to report the siting. Someone told us there is a web site but didn’t know what it was. Anyway I’m glad I signed up with you.

This siting was just before the Herring spawn reached here from the north. We were very excited to see this pod.

There were hundreds of Pacific White Sided Dolphins in the Howe Sound area between Horseshoe Bay and Langdale.

 

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