Orca, Gray Whales and Pacific White Sided Dolphins – Lots of Sea Lions Too.
Whale and Dolphin activity appears to be up everywhere. With the proliferation of food, both the fish and meat eaters have plenty to chose from.
We are busy working on doing a few updates and found that we had glitch with our toll free, which we believe is now fixed. We are still waiting to hear about the maps promised us of all the sightings. There will be more information in the next report.
People have been asking about all the Sea Lion activity in our waters. They are busy feeding on the abundant herring in the area and use co-operative efforts to feed on them. When they have nice full bellies, they quite frequently hang about in what we call rafts and cool off by holding their flippers in the air or play. Sometimes we receive reports of Orca when it’s actually Sea Lion flippers. When the water is calm, they have a great ability to fool us, so keep your eyes open and remember to give us a call!
Susan MacKay & Lynne Cracknell, Whales and Dolphins BC
Every sighting report is valuable
Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?
Pacific White Sided Dolphins
Powell River, March 23, 2014
Susan MacKay, SG Images
UNIDENTIFIED KILLER WHALES
March 25:
12:20 pm: Orca off the Hump, just off the Cape Mudge Lighthouse on Quadra Island, hunting Seals.
From Radio.
March 23:
12:50 pm: Seven plus Orca (one male) foraging at the Hump, near the Cape Mudge Lighthouse, Quadra Island.
(Original report from Fisherman)
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale Watching.
March 23:
5:20 pm: There are Orca being very playful in front of the ferry. Campbell River. They are southbound.
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale Watching.
March 22:
9:45 am: Three Orca southbound off Westview towards Grief Point, Powell River, tight to the shore from my sister and granddaughter, Nyla.
Judy Brant, Powell River
March 22:
10 am 3 Orca moving pretty quickly towards Grief Point. There were no big dorsals (males) and they were tight to shore. There’s lots of sea lion activity and they didn’t seem too concerned, but they were even tighter to shore.
Liz Douglas, Powell River
PACIFIC WHITE SIDED DOLPHINS
Pacific White Sided Dolphins
Powell River, March 23, 2014
Susan MacKay, SG Images
March 24:
6:45 pm: There are around 200 PWS dolphins foraging around between Texada Island and Rebecca Rocks.
Steve Grover.Powell River.
March 24:
7:30 pm: By the way, the Dolphins are still out there! They are heading back towards Texada now.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
March 23:
2:52 pm 3 to 5 Porpoise or Dolphins – smaller than Orca for sure, feeding just off the anchored sailboat by the sea walk.
Shirley Randall, Powell River
March 23:
2:55 pm 5 smaller animals (turned out to be PWS Dolphins) angling back and forth towards the viewpoint.
Liz Douglas, Powell River
March 23:
3:20 pm: PWS Dolphins reported in Powell River. Going to check.
3:40 pm: Initial report had 3 – 5 which I stopped to look for and saw from the viewpoint. Found 30 plus coming quickly from below VanAnda, Texada. They flew by making a bee line North-West towards Vivian Rocks. Waiting a bit to see if there are any more coming around Grief Point or if they’re being chased by Orca.
4:00 pm: Another 20 or so between Vananda and Grief Point, moving slow.
5:20 pm: Never got close enough to either group for a really good photo – thank goodness for telephoto lenses. The first group were moving fast and I lost track of them, the second group turned back down Malaspina, foraging. I went back to the harbour!
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
Pacific White Sided Dolphins
Powell River, March 23, 2014
Susan MacKay, SG Images
GRAY WHALES
March 21:
12:30 – 2:00 pm: Gray whales farther off the coast today, about 1/2 to 2 miles from the lighthouse past Mara Rock. (That’s about 5 miles out of Ucluelet, on the West Coast.) Lots of Grays going by, but not in such a hurry, so many tails up as they dived. It was great here today, also, frost first thing this morning, but wonderful sunshine all day again. Very calm waters out there in the open, maybe one meter swells but very far apart. And no wind really. A non typical Spring day in Ukee!
Don McBain, North Vancouver visiting Ucluelet
March 20:
12:30 – 2:00 pm: About half a dozen Gray whales east and west of Mara Rock, travelling west on the northern migration. They were motoring so all we could see was blows, of course, heads, and a couple of backs.
Don McBain. North Vancouver visiting Ucluelet.
Pacific White Sided Dolphins
Powell River, March 23, 2014
Susan MacKay, SG Images
LINKS IN THE NEWS:
Thanks to Michael Stewart who sent us this next video, a graphic encounter between excited boaters, exhausted sea lions, and hunting Orca – all off the coast of Prince Rupert a few days ago.
Another link to the same event, this time from the Telegraph newspaper in the U.K!
?v=10152001039285547http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/10719399/Family-capture-rare-close-up-footage-of-killer-whale-hunt.html#disqus_thread
Some great overhead footage courtesy of the CTV News helicopter showing a large pod of Pacific White Sided Dolphins chasing herring in the Strait of Georgia on March 21st.
Pacific White Sided Dolphins
Powell River, March 23, 2014
Susan MacKay, SG Images
Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?
Every sighting report is valuable!
We are the non-profit Wild Ocean Whale Society
