Orcinusorca

Northern Resident News 2011

2011-02-26T06:14:00.004-08:00

July, 22
A85 (Codero) is travelling with the A23s choosing to specifically spend time closest to A60. This is a happy postscript to the sad reality that A51 (Nodales) and her youngest calf are probably gone. A61 (Surge) came in travelling with the A8s. So A51's little matriline has split apart with her demise.
Source: Orcalab

April 15, 2011
Northern resident baby news:
Fantome (A91), Sunday (A92), Cypress (A93), Mystery (A94), Fern (A95), Blackfly (C29), Sweeper (C30), and Naden (C31) have all exceeded their first year of life. Hooray!
Calves A96, A97, A98, D26 and I109 were all born between 2010 and now. None have survived their first year of life yet though so they remain nameless. Hopefully all five (and more) will be seen thriving this summer.
(Source: Orcanetwork)

Fun facts:
Fern is Corky at SeaWorld San Diego great niece or nephew. Though they never knew each other, Ripple (A43), Fern's Grandmother, is Corky's little sister.
Mystery is Springer's aunt or uncle. Springer's Grandma, Kelsey, (A24) is still producing healthy calves in her forties.
Rachel Palmer, B.C. Canada

January 27, The I11s visit Johnstone Strait at January 26 and 27. Orcalab spotted a new baby with I13. This is her third calf after I75, born in 1995 and died in 1998 and I108, Tatnall, born in 2005.

Southern Residents News 2011

2011-02-26T06:12:00.007-08:00

February 2011
J1 is missing and presumed dead

Here's a photo of J1 and J2 from last October in Admiralty Inlet. The last time we got to see J1/Ruffles was November 4th in Admiralty Inlet, nearly in the same spot where we were with J pod on Sunday. We were saddened to see J2 without J1 anywhere in sight, and though we hope his big, ruffled fin will show up and surprise us all, he has not been sighted since Nov. 21st, and J2 has been seen several times without him since then.
But if J1 is indeed gone, we know his huge presence will always be felt. His genes have been passed along to many of the calves in all three pods of the Southern Resident community, who will hopefully become big, strong males with massive fins, who will follow along in his fluke prints to become legends in their own time, as Ruffles has been a legend in his~
Howard Garrett

May 29, 2011
L55 had a new calf: L118

L55 with new calf L118, Swanson Channel, May 29, 2011
There appears to be a new calf traveling with L55(see photo above. This is a different calf from the one observed on Dec. 6th seen traveling with L5 (L117). We are tentatively calling the newest calf L118 and will confirm the number of new calves once we have had a more conclusive L pod encounter.
Photo by Erin Heydenreich, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island
taken under MMPA permit #532-1822 and/or DFO license #2006-08/SARA-34

Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

Northern Residents News 2010

2010-06-11T11:08:00.009-07:00

October 3, G63 of the G3 matriline was reported with a new calf. This means also that G63 is a female. The ID of the calf is not known yet. (source Stubb Islands)

July 19, A34 Simoom of the A12 matriline was seen with a new calf. ID of the new calf is probably A98
July 13, W3 lost her last son W2, Glenville this year and travels with R13 and her calf R47

July 7, A56, Nahwitti had a new calf. ID of the new calf is probably A97
July 7, A13, Skeena is missing and presumed dead.

July 3, A12, Scimitar is back in Johnstone Strait with the two remaining brothers of the A36s: A37, Plumper and A46, Kaikash

June 16, A32, Cracroft of the A36 matriline is missing and presumed dead

June 10, 2010 Nicknames of new borns in 2008
A88 (female), born to A42 Sonora, named Cameleon.
A89, born to A64 Schooner, named Kanish.
A90, born to A35 Skagit, named Pine
B17, born to B14 Klaskish, named Nasparti.

April 8, 2010. A51 Nodales, of the A25 matriline had a new calf. The calf ID is probably A96.

Southern Resident News 2010

2010-06-09T21:12:00.008-07:00

December 6th 2010, a new calf, L117 is born. At this moment it isn't known who the mother is.

October 13, 2010 L82 had a new calf: L116
The Center for Whale Research has shared the results of their 2010 summer Orca Survey, with the sad news that we have lost 3 adult orcas and one calf this year.

Missing and presumed dead are:
L114, new calf born to L77 in February 2010, missing when the whales returned in June.
L73/Flash, a male born in 1986, missing summer 2010 (male in above photo).
L74/Saanich, a male also born in 1986, missing summer 2010.
K11/Georgia, a female estimated to be born in 1933, last observed in May 2010.
(Source Orca network)

Sept. 10, San Juan Island:
This morning we encountered L72 and L105 carrying a dead killer whale calf off the west side of San Juan Island. We followed the whales for just over 6 hours, and most of the time the calf was not visible, but on occasion L72 would lift the calf out of the water when she was surfacing. When we were able to see the calf L72 appeared to either be pushing it in front of her balanced on her rostrum or would be carrying the calf on the top of her head, but the calf was negatively buoyant, so had probably not been dead for long. Although L105, L72's ~6 year old son, was within 50 or 100 m for most of the time, we did not see L105 interacting with the dead calf. Based on the size of the calf (approximately 6-7') we suspect it was near-term but no way to know whether it was stillborn or born alive and died shortly afterward. Upon surfacing L72 would frequently appear to 'drop' the calf and both whales would stop and dive deep to recover it. From the photos it appears the calf was a female, and the umbilical is still attached and clearly visible. When we left the whales early this evening L72 still had the calf with her.
Robin Baird, Cascadia Research, Olympia, WA

August 18, 2010 L47 had a new calf: L115.
The latest member of L pod was first seen August 6 from Lime Kiln Lighthouse. The calf was photographed by Jeanne Hyde. After an encounter with L pod on the August 13th, the Center was able to confirm that the calf belongs to L47. This is the 7th known calf born to L47. Two of those calves are still alive, L83 and L91. L47 is also a grandmother to L83's calf L110.

June 27, 2010 L113 is a girl! she is the first known calf of L94 and was first seen in October of 2009.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island

February, 2010 - K43 born to K12. K43 was first photographed February 21, 2010 by Jeanne Hyde and was photographed with mom K12 on June 8, 2010 in Haro Strait.

February 21, 2010. L114 born to L77. L114 was first seen and photographed with L77 near Cordova Bay, Vancouver Island BC.
June 2010 L114 has not been seen with its mother in June and is presumed to have died.

January 3, 2010. J47 born to J35. J47 was first seen and photographed with J35 near Vashon Island, Puget Sound.

Northern Residents News 2009

2009-07-28T20:43:00.009-07:00

- August 17: A69, Midsummer of the A23 matriline, had a new calf. ID of the calf is probably A95;
- August 03: W5, Klenny's of the W3 matriline is missing and presumed dead;
- July 28: I51 had a new calf. ID of the calf is probably I120

I120

- July 23: C10 Koeye had a new calf. ID C29.
- July 23: C23 Fin had also a new calf. ID C30.
- July 14: A54 Blinkhorn had a new calf. The calfs ID is A93.
- July 5: A33 Nimpkish of the A12 matriline is missing and presumed dead.

- June 27: Orcalab reports a new calf with the A24s. A24 Kelsy had a new calf. ID is probably A94.
- June 23: Orcalab had a reportr from DFO that the Ds where sighted further north with a new calf. It isn't clear yet who the mother is.
- June 19: Orcalab reports 2 new calfs with the A34s. A62 Misty had her second calf, probably ID A91 and A67 had her first calf with ID A92.

T031

2009-06-25T01:34:00.001-07:00

June 18, 2011
2 Orca (looked like mama and baby) traveling north at 1 pm June 18th. I did not get a picture of the baby (see photo of adult male, below - identified as Transient orca T31 by Rod Palm of Strawberry Isle Research & Dave Ellifrit of Center for Whale Research). Location: Cape Flattery, Washington Latitude: 48-22'59'' N; Longitude: 124-42'52'' W.
Juhi LaFuente

Transient orca T31, Cape Flattery, WA June 18, 2011
Photo by Juhi LaFuente

T056

2009-06-25T01:21:00.001-07:00

June 16, 2011
No Resident Orcas today, yet around 1:35pm we come across another group of 4 Transient Killer Whales! A male T-56, with a female, juvenile and calf. He is an orphan, so hard to ID who he was with. They are swimming fairly slowly with that strong flood tide, in a tight group on long dives, north then east around Sucia Island.
Caroline Armon, Odyssey, San Juan Excursions, San Juan Island, WA

T171

2009-06-25T01:14:00.000-07:00

June 16, 2011
This evening (6/19) we had a delightful and surprising encounter with a group of 15 Transient Orcas near Beaumont Shoals. At the moment these Transient Orcas have not been identified and may be new visitors to the Salish Sea:) Within he group there was two large males one of which had a very distinctive dorsal fin. We followed the group as they moved swiftly north in Haro Strait and were nearing Lime Kiln Lighthouse when we left them.
Regards,
Andrew Lees, Marine Naturalist, Five Star Whale Watching, Victoria, B.C.

These orcas were identified as T170 and T171, by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA - and Rod Palm of Strawberry Isle Research says, " wow! Rare animals for us on the West Coast: we've only seen them twice in over 20 years."

Transient orcas T170 and T171, June 18, 2011
Photo by Andrew Less, Five Star Whale Watching, Victoric, B.C.

T170

2009-06-25T01:09:00.000-07:00

This evening (6/19) we had a delightful and surprising encounter with a group of 15 Transient Orcas near Beaumont Shoals. At the moment these Transient Orcas have not been identified and may be new visitors to the Salish Sea:) Within he group there was two large males one of which had a very distinctive dorsal fin. We followed the group as they moved swiftly north in Haro Strait and were nearing Lime Kiln Lighthouse when we left them.
Regards,
Andrew Lees, Marine Naturalist, Five Star Whale Watching, Victoria, B.C.

These orcas were identified as T170 and T171, by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA - and Rod Palm of Strawberry Isle Research says, " wow! Rare animals for us on the West Coast: we've only seen them twice in over 20 years."

Transient orcas T170 and T171, June 18, 2011
Photo by Andrew Less, Five Star Whale Watching, Victoric, B.C.

T077s

2009-06-05T01:45:00.001-07:00

May 13
Dave Ellifrit, Debbie Sharpe, Kira Kranzler, and Mercedes Powell of the Center for Whale Research
departed Snug Harbor at 10:50 a.m. with a report of transients just off of Discovery Island, B.C. Approximately seven miles east of Seabird Point (48° 20.83 N,123° 05.77 W) at 11:35 a.m. we found the group of seven transients traveling slowly in a tight group, heading south west. The group included T75, T75A, T73B and the T77s. We were with the group for several hours as they zigzagged their way south west into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Our encounter ended at 2:01 p.m. with the whales still headed south (48° 16.93 N, 123° 08.21 W).

T073s

2009-06-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

May 13, 2011

13 May, 2011
Dave Ellifrit, Debbie Sharpe, Kira Kranzler, and Mercedes Powell of the Center for Whale Research departed Snug Harbor at 10:50 a.m. with a report of transients just off of Discovery Island, B.C. Approximately seven miles east of Seabird Point (48° 20.83 N,123° 05.77 W) at 11:35 a.m. we found the group of seven transients traveling slowly in a tight group, heading south west. The group included T75, T75A, T73B and the T77s. We were with the group for several hours as they zigzagged their way south west into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Our encounter ended at 2:01 p.m. with the whales still headed south (48° 16.93 N, 123° 08.21 W).
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

Transient orca T73B with Mt. Baker, May 13, 2011

Photo by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research

taken under DFO license #2006-08/SARA-34

T051

2009-06-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2011
Transient orca T051 (see photo below) was with T068C and T068C1 on May 1st west of Sheringham Pt. Lighthouse. They were originally spotted by Gotcha Fishing Charters and were tracking east off Jordan River (south Vancouver Island). When I found them they were south bound on a line for the U.S./Canada border.
I left them west bound mid strait south of Point no Point at 1615hrs.
Mark Malleson,
Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

T51in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, May 1, 2011

Photo by Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales

T93

2009-06-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

April 22, 2011
Transient Orcas this morning at 8:20am by Powell River, only two were visible at any time with the big male being either T054 or T093. It was difficult to tell for sure - they were not staying on the surface very long. They did cruise by some sea lions, and were on a head on course for the porpoises reported by Myrtle Rocks. I kept hoping for a turn back up this way, but nothing.
Two Orca reported just south of Powell River at 10:40am. Some resting and continuing slowly southward.
by Bill T.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC, Powell River, BC

T54

2009-06-04T21:57:00.001-07:00

T046s

2009-06-03T22:37:00.001-07:00

April 17, 2011
Tamar Griggs of Bold Bluff Retreat, Salt Spring Island, B.C. called to report that the Transient orcas were back in Sansum Narrows again Sunday, April 17th for several hours. She said they had been ID'd as the T46's by Simon Pidcock.

T143

2009-05-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2011
Just received a report from Jared that T142 and T143 are heading west past Pt. McNeill.

Leah
01 May 2011 11:02:53 PDT

T142

2009-05-06T11:00:00.004-07:00

May 1, 2011
Just received a report from Jared that T142 and T143 are heading west past Pt. McNeill.
Leah
01 May 2011 11:02:53 PDT

Southern Residents News 2009

2009-05-06T01:43:00.001-07:00

11 November 2009, New calf born: J46. The mother of this calf is J28.
10 October 2009, New calf born: L113. The calf is traveling with its presumed mother L94
01 August 2009, J38, Cookie, has been confirmed male.
3 March 2009: New calf born J45 traveling with J14
21 January 2009: New calf L112 traveling with adult female L86
6 February 2009: New calf J44 traveling with J17 .
J44 was confirmed to be a male on 4 May 2009

Missing whales 2009
16 February 2009: L57, (Faith), a 31 year old male is missing.
(Source: Center for Whale Research)

W1 pod - W3 matriline

2009-05-05T01:13:00.011-07:00

W3 Matriline

Click on the familytree to see the ID photo of the whale

It turns out that W3 after losing another and her last son this year chose to travel with R13 and her little one, R47.

W1 Discrete calls
The 2 R clan pods (R1 and W1) have nearly identical dialects, which can be easily distinguished from other clans even by an untrained ear, but not from eachother.
The repertoire of the W1 pod consists of the following 8 discrete calls: N32i, N33, N34, N35, N42, N43, N50, and N51
All the calls are shared with R1 pod

Listen to the distictive calls of W1 pod

R1 pod - R7 matriline

2009-05-05T01:12:00.012-07:00

R9 Matriline
This matriline died out after the death of R9 in 2003.

Discrete calls
The repertoire of the R1 pod consists of the following 9 discrete calls: N32i, N32ii, N33, N34, N35, N42, N43, N50, and N51
The call N32ii is exclusive for R1 pod. All the other calls are shared with W1 pod

Listen to the distictive calls of R1 pod

R1 pod - R17 matriline

2009-05-05T01:12:00.011-07:00

Discrete calls
The repertoire of the R1 pod consists of the following 9 discrete calls: N32i, N32ii, N33, N34, N35, N42, N43, N50, and N51
The call N32ii is exclusive for R1 pod. All the other calls are shared with W1 pod

Listen to the distictive calls of R1 pod

R1 pod - R2 matriline

2009-05-05T01:11:00.013-07:00

R2 and R6 are believed to be siblings, but because their presumed mother died before the study, the matriline is named after R2.
Having no living mother, the male R6 (Caamano), before he died in 2000, frequently wandered from the matriline for significant periods of time.
R6 was the father of C8 Lama. His dorsal fin had a forwarded hook, an attribute sometimes seen in old males. He was born before 1954 because, when the study began, he had already a fullgrown dorsal fin.
R2 died in 2005, at the age of 67 years old, leaving 2 sons R3 Nigei who is the father of A56 Nahwitti of the A11 matriline, A26 Foster of the A9 matriline and A60 Fife of the A23 matriline, and R12 Kitlope, who is the father of A61, Surge also from the A23 matriline.

Discrete calls
The repertoire of the R1 pod consists of the following 9 discrete calls: N32i, N32ii, N33, N34, N35, N42, N43, N50, and N51
The call N32ii is exclusive for R1 pod. All the other calls are shared with W1 pod

Listen to the distictive calls of R1 pod

R1 pod - R5 matriline

2009-05-05T01:11:00.012-07:00

R5 matriline is one the largest matrilines of the Northern Residents. In 2007, this matriline had 22 members alive.
R4 and her offspring occasionally travel separately from the rest of the matriline.

Click on the familytree to see the ID photo of the whale

Discrete calls
The repertoire of the R1 pod consists of the following 9 discrete calls: N32i, N32ii, N33, N34, N35, N42, N43, N50, and N51
The call N32ii is exclusive for R1 pod. All the other calls are shared with W1 pod

Listen to the distictive calls of R1 pod

I31 pod - I31 matriline

2009-05-05T01:10:00.007-07:00

The I31 pod consists of only the I31 matriline.
The I31s have in 2007 in total 12 members alive.
Click on the familytree to see the ID photo of the whale

I31 Discrete calls

The repertoire of the I31 pod consists of the following 9 discrete calls: N23i, N24, N26, N30, N39, N40, N41,N46, and N48
All the calls are shared with at least the I11 pod.

N40, N41, and N48 are also shared with the G1s and G12s.

Listen to the distictive calls of I31 pod
N23ii

N40

N41

N48

I31 Matriline

I11 pod - I15 matriline

2009-05-05T01:09:00.009-07:00

Although the matriarch I15, died in late 2005 or early 2006, the matriline will retain her name because the group maintained its cohesion throughout 2006.
In time, however, the animals in this group may begin to travel apart and if so the groups will be renamed appropriately as separate matrilines.

Click on the familytree to see the ID photo of the whale

Video of the I15s in Johnstone Strait. The sound are recordings of the I15s

I11 pod - I11 matriline

2009-05-05T01:08:00.011-07:00

On top of beginning to sprout Kokish (I64) has also become easier to identify due to the damage he has incurred to his dorsal fin. Speculation is a minor wound to his dorsal fin has torn over time.

I64 before I64 after

G12 pod - G2 matriline

2009-05-05T01:08:00.010-07:00

G12 pod - G27 matriline

2009-05-05T01:07:00.002-07:00

G12 pod - G8 matriline

2009-05-05T01:06:00.003-07:00

G8 matriline has one sole member, G62. Since being orphaned in 2000, the juvenile G62 has spent much of it's time in the presence of members of the G2 matriline.

G1 pod - G29 matriline

2009-05-05T01:05:00.010-07:00

M.B. (G46) - M.B. is named after the late Dr. Michael Bigg, the pioneer of killer whale research in B.C., who died in 1990

G1 pod - G17 matriline

2009-05-05T01:05:00.009-07:00

G1 pod - G4 matriline

2009-05-05T01:04:00.011-07:00

The G4 matriline died out after the death of the matriarch G4. She lost her both sons in 1997.

G1 pod - G16 matriline

2009-05-05T01:04:00.010-07:00

After the death of G11, this matriline splits into 2 new matrilines, G16 and G31.

May 1, 2011

Thank you to Jon Scordino, Makah Tribe marine mammal biologist, and Brad Hanson of NOAA Fisheries for allowing us to share some of the photos taken by the Makah Tribe of orcas off the NW Washington Coast on May 1st. These orcas were identified by Dave Ellifrit from the Center for Whale Research & Graeme Ellis of Canada's Dept. of Fisheries & Oceans as G pod, from the Northern Resident Orca community. See photo below of G39, a mature male with an interesting fin.

Northern Resident bull G39, off the NW WA Coast, May 1, 2011

Photo courtesy of Makah Tribe Marine Mammal Stranding Network,

taken under NOAA permit # 781-1824-01

G1 pod - G3 matriline

2009-05-05T01:03:00.009-07:00

G32 received dorsal fin injuries in 2006.
It is not known how these types of injuries happen but they are possibly caused by bites from other killer whales.
This whale may look significantly different now compared to their appearance in these photos.

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Discrete calls

The repertoire of the G1 pod consists of the following 10 discrete calls: N23ii, N25, N28, N29, N38, N40, N41, N44, N45, and N48
The calls N23ii, N28, N29, N38 and N44 are exclusive for G1 and G12 pod.

The other 5 calls are shared with at least the I11s. The calls N40, N41 and n48 are also made by the I31s.

Listen to the distictive calls of G1 pod
N23ii

N40

N41

N48

I18 pod - I18 matriline

2009-05-05T00:58:00.002-07:00

I18 pod - I17 matriline

2009-05-05T00:57:00.002-07:00

I18 pod contains two of the least-known matrilines in the Northern Residents Community.
The two matrilines, I17 and I18, have been encountered only 48 times over the 25-year-long study. They where together on about one-third of these encounters.
It is a burgeoning group, however, increasing from 5 whales in 1975 to an 20 in 2007.
Acousticaly,I18 pod is very closely related to I1 and I2 pods
Source: Killer whales Second edition

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Discrete calls
We don't exactly what the repertoire of I18 pod of descrete calls is. Probably it is the same as I1 en I2 pod.
If so the repertoire of the I18 pod consists of the following 13 discrete calls : N1ii, N1iv, N3, N5i, N5ii, N7ii, N7iii, N8iii, N8iv, N12, N16iii, N16iv, and N20
There are no calls recorded of the I18 pod

I2 Pod - I22 matriline

2009-05-05T00:56:00.002-07:00

I2 pod is now down to two individuals, from a peak of seven in the early 1990s. The pair is seldom sighted and prefers to travel with equally uncommon pods I1 and I18.

I1 pod - I1 matriline

2009-05-05T00:55:00.007-07:00

I1 pod is one of the least commonly encountered northern residents groups.
It appears to spend more time off northern and western Vancouver Island and along the north coast of BC than in the more frequently surveyed waters of Johnstone Strait.

The matriarch, I1, died in 1993, but in keeping with matriline naming protocol, her name is retained because she still has surviving offspring of both sexes.

H1 pod - H5 matriline

2009-05-05T00:55:00.006-07:00

The H5 matriline consists of 3 generations. The matriarch H5 had 3 calves. The first was born in 1988, H9. She has a calf of her own, born in 2002, called H12.
Her second calf H11 was born in 2000 but didn't surveive and died in 2001. The las calf of H5 was born in 2004, H13.

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Discrete calls
No calls recorded

H1 pod - H3 matriline

2009-05-05T00:54:00.008-07:00

H1 pod once travelled as a cohesive group, but this appeared to have changed.
H3 and her offspring have been seen on number of occasions, where as since 1993 only H5, from the other half of the pod, has been accounted for in a couple of incomplete encounters.
Source: Killer Whales Second Edition.

Since the death of the matriarch H6 and her son H2, There are 2 matrilines, H3 matriline and H5 matriline.
Altough H3 also was missing in 2003, the matriline still has her name, because of H7 who is still alive.
The matriline concist of only three members: H7 born in 1981 with his sister H8, born in 1986.
His 8 has one calf, born in 2005: H14

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Discrete calls

No calls recorded
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H7 was reported badly damaged in 2006. The photo's below show H7 before the accident and after.

D1 pod - D11 matriline

2009-05-05T00:54:00.007-07:00

D1 pod was once quite common in Johnstone Strait but only occasionally visited this area during the 1990s.
The two matrilines, D11 and D7, typically travel together.
Source: Killer Whales Second edition
D11 matriline consist of 4 whales and 3 generations. The matriline D11, Christie had four calves. The first calf, D14 was born in 1987, but died in 2007.
The second calf is still alive. D17, Fisher was born in 1990 and had a calf of her own in 2004 when D21, Shearwater was born.
De third calf of Christie was born in 2004. D22 was missing in 2007 and presumed dead. Last year she had her last calf. In 2007 D25 was born.

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Discrete calls

No calls recorded
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D1 pod - D7 matriline

2009-05-05T00:53:00.008-07:00

The matriarch D7, Kwakshua died in 2000.
Her offspring consist of D10 Winchester and D13 Cascade. Three other whales are probable born to D7: D4 born in 1958, died in 1984, D8, Balaklava and D9 Takush.
D8, Balaklava had 3 offspring and died in 2007. D12, Hakai, born in 1992; she had in 1999 a calf of her own: D20, Whisky.
The two other calves didn't surveive. D16, born in 1987 lived for only three years and died in 1990, and D18 Salal born in 1995, died in 2004.
D9 Takush had a calf in 1987: D15 Geetla. D10, Winchester has a small hole through her dorsal fin, apperantly causedby a bullet. She didn't have any offspring as far as we know.
And D13 Cascade had 2 calves, D19, Gipsy, born in 1998 and D23, Nowish born in 2005.

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Discrete calls
No calls recorded

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D9 can be easily confused with the female C10, as they have very similar dorsal-fin nicks, altough their saddle-patch shapes are quite different.

D9 Takush C10 Koeye
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C1 pod - C10 matriline

2009-05-05T00:51:00.005-07:00

Right now, the family consists of 32-year-old matriarch Koeye (C10), daughter Fifer (C13), young sons Cosmos (C17) and Gikumi (C20),and the youngster Fin (C23). Rounding out the family is Kestrel (C24), born to Fifer in 2000 and C26 born to Koeye in 2005.
The former matriarch of this matriline, C5, Kwatna, was most likely the mother of C11, widely known as the whale "Namu". This male was captured near the town of Namu on the central BC coast in 1965 and transported to Seattle in a floating pen.
"Namu"became known around the world through magazine articles, books and a movie.

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Discrete calls
The C10 and C6 matrilines share a dialect that is very similar to that of D1 pod.
They use the following calltypes:
N1ii, N3, N7iv, N8ii, N11ii, N12, N16ii, N18, and N20
N1ii

N16ii

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C5 Kwatna F:1924-1995

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C11 Namu M:1945-1965c

In June, 1965 this whale and one of his siblings blundered into a gillnet near the cannery town of Namu, about 90 km north of Vancouver Island. The calf later escaped but Namu was sold for $8,000 to Ted Griffin, owner of the Seattle Aquarium.
As Namu waited in the gillnet pen, a female and two calves lingered nearby. Each morning, another 40 or so killer whales would make a brief visit.
Using a makeshift floating pen made out of rebar and empty oil drums, Namu was towed
700 km south to Seattle. No other killer whales were seen until just outside Port Hardy on northern Vancouver Island. Gil Hewlett, a biologist for the Vancouver Aquarium at the time,remembers one close pass by a group including the female and the two calves.
“Here we were perched on this flimsy pen and seven dorsal fins came right at us,” says Hewlett. “The female came within inches of us and Namu went ballistic. He leapt out of the water and they were vocalizing like crazy.” The whales followed all the way to Seymour Narrows near Campbell River, and then vanished.
Recordings of Namu’s calls were later matched to C-pod. The female was almost certainly his mother, Kwatna (C5). The two calves with her were probably his siblings, C2 and C15. Both are now dead. Kwatna, who gave birth to
Koeye in 1972, died in 1997. When Namu arrived in Seattle he became an
international celebrity and sparked a decade of controversial whale captures in B.C. and Washington State waters. He died after only a year in captivity, but not before he’d dispelled many myths about killer whales. “We were beginning to understand that we really didn’t have anything to fear from killer whales, and that they have family relationships that no one had known anything about before.” says Hewlett.
Source: Blackfish Sounder
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C10 Koeye F:1971

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C1 pod - C6 matriline

2009-05-05T00:50:00.009-07:00

The C6 and C10 matriline are mostly encountered separately - in only about 20% of encounters in the 1990s were the two groups together.

The matriarch of this matriline is C6, Ivory. Ivory was born in 1955. Her mother was problably C4, born in 1937. C1, was probably Ivory's brother.
Ivory had 5 offspring. The first born was C9, Weynton in 1971. Weynton was reported missing in 2000. Four years later C8, Lama was born in 1975. The father of Lama is R6, Caamano who died in 1999 or 2000. Lama is a productive female who has also 5 offspring of her own.
In 1985 Ivory had a son, C14, Hunter and in 1991 she had another son C18, Squally

As mentioned C8 had also 5 offspring. In 1989 she had her firstborn, a son, C16, Kisameet. The second calf was a daughter born in 1991, C19, Virago.
In 1994 C21 Quadra was born. Quadra had a calf in 2006, designated C27. In July 2006 Quadra died after a collision with a vessel. C21's body was recovered and
necropsied near Prince Rupert in 2006 and showed signs of blunt force trauma indicative of a major collision. Her calf C27 was seen travelling with C8 after the
accident.
In 1997 Lama had C22, Diver and in 2004 she had her last calf C25, Ta-aack. Maybe because of her last calf, C8 was able to nurse her grandchild C27...

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Discrete calls

The C10 and C6 matrilines share a dialect that is very similar to that of D1 pod.
They use the following calltypes:
N1iii, N3, N7iv, N8ii, N11ii, N12, N16ii, N18, and N20
N1iii

N16ii

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C8 Lama F: 1975

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C18 Squally M: 1991

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C16 Kisameet M: 1989

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C19 Virago F: 1991

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C21 Quadra F: 1994-2006

July 2006 DFO Reports

I'm sorry to report the loss of a female northern resident killer whale known as C21 from the C6 Matriline.
C21 was born in 1994 to C8. On Tuesday July 18th, a local fisherman reported a floating killer whale carcass in the vicinity near Prince Rupert, BC. Doug Davis of Adventure Tours in Prince Rupert responded immediately and secured the carcass, until local DFO Fishery Officers could retrieve the carcass and tow it to a DFO facility in Prince Rupert. Because this incident was reported so promptly, we were able to gather a necropsy team, led by Dr. Stephen Raverty of the BC Centre for Animal Health, and complete a full necropsy on Wednesday. While a definitive cause of death awaits Dr. Raverty's complete assessment, there was evidence of a serious blunt force trauma, possibly resulting from collision with a vessel. DFO is very concerned about vessel strikes on killer whales and other cetaceans.
C21 was seen with a newborn calf before her death.
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C22 Diver ?: 1997

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B1 pod- B7 matriline

2009-05-05T00:49:00.006-07:00

B1 pod was long known for its unusually high number of males. Although two old males, B1 and B2 died in 1998, the pod is still comprised mostly of males. The pod travels alone more than any other northern resident group, perhaps due to its preonderance of males.

The matriarch is Scarlet B7. She had between 1964 and 1995 7 calves, which 6 are males.
In 1964 B8, Izumi was born. Izumi died in 2002. After almost 13 years Scarlet had her second calf, B10, Slingsby in 1979. Then after 5 years she had B12, Nakwakto in 1984 who died in 2006. Three years later she had her fourth son, B13, Yaculta, born in 1987.
Then in 1991 she had her only daughter B14, Klaskish, who had her first calf, B16, Arrow, in 2004.
In 1995 Scarlet had her last son B15, Raven.

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Discrete calls
The repertoire of the B1 pod consists of the following 14 discrete calls: N1ii, N3, N5i, N5ii, N7iii, N8iii, N8iv N11i, N11ii, N12, N16i, N18, N20 and N21

The calls N16i, and N21 are exclusive for B1 pod.

9 calls are shared with at least the I1s.

The calls N1ii, N7ii, N8iii and N8iv are shared with the I1s only

The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.

The call N5i are also made by the A1s, A4s, A5s, Hs and I1s

The call N5ii are shared with the Hs and I1s

The call N11i are also made by the A1s, A4s and A5s and the call I11ii are shred with the Cs, Ds and Hs

The call N18 is also made by the Cs and the call N20 is shared with the Cs, Ds and I1s

N1ii

N16

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B11 F: 1927-1973

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B2 Baronet M: <1952-1998

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B7 Scarlet F: 1947

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B1 M: Hooker <1951-1998
One of the first whales they identified was Hooker, which came from his distinctive fin, which hooked forward.

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B3 M: 1958-1982

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B5 M: 1963-1985

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B6 M Bauza: 1973-1992

When first identified, the Bs had a very, very small calf, young enough that he was still orange. Researchers called him Rusty because of his orange colouring. Rusty was very active as well, and while most calves were, he was hyper!
It's probable that Rusty was B6, who was born to B11 the year the study started. If so, he would grow up to be actually named Bauza.

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B8 Izumi M: 1964-2002

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B10 Slingsby M: 1979

The dorsal fin of B10 is very waky, tilting over to 30 degrees

2006: B10’s fin is straightening out.
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B12 Nakwakto M: 1984-2006

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B13 Yaculta M: 1987

B13's fin is total collapsed during the summer of 2006
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B14 Klaskish F: 1991

B14 may have had (and lost) a calf in 2000, but no photo-ID was taken

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B15 Raven M: 1995

B15 has a new nick and started sprouting in 2005
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B16 Arrow ?: 2004

A5 pod - A25 matriline

2009-05-05T00:48:00.004-07:00

As a whole, A5 pod was captured in April 1968 and December 1969, in order to take young orcas into aquariums around the world. Almost an entire generation of orcas were taken from different families of the A5 pod.

Erich Hoyt wrote in his book The whale called killer:
One subadult female, Corky II, one subadult male (no name) and a female calf, Patches, were shipped to Marineland of the Pacific, south of LA. Patches died the following year of salmonellosis and "no name" a year alter of pneumonia. The remaining female, Corky II, has survived to date.
A mature female, 16 foot long and weighing more than two tons, was flown 6.000 miles to England's Cleethorpes Zoo. Calypso, as she came to be known, was transferred soon after to France's Marineland Cote d'Azur, where she died within the year. A male and a female subadult, Nepo and Yaka, were flown to Marine World Africa USA near San Fransisco.

According to the family tree of the A25 matriline, Patches could be A18 and A17 could be the subadult male with no name.

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Discrete calls

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The repertoire of the A5 pod consists of the following 13 discrete calls: N2, N3, N4, N5i, N7i, N7ii, N8i, N9iii, N10, N11i, N12, N13, and N17
The calls N9iii, and N17 are exclusive for A5 pod.

The other 11 calls are shared with at least the A1s and A4s, except call N13 which is also made by the A4s only.
The calls N2, N4, N7i, and N10 are also made by the A1s and A4s.
The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.
The call N5i are also made by the A1s, A4s, Bs, Hs and I1s
The call N7ii are also made by the A1s, A4s and I1s
The cal N8i are also made by the A1s, A4s and Hs
The call N11i are also made by the A1s, A4s and Bs

Listen to the distictive calls of A5 pod
N4

N7i

N12

N17

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A14 Saddle F: 1947-1991

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A17 M?: 1964-C1969;
Captured 1969. Probably died 1971

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A18 Patches F: 1969-C1969;
Captured 1969. Probably died 1970

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A25 Sharky F: 1971-1997

A25 called Sharky because of the distinctive shape of her dorsal fin.
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A15 M: 1979-1991

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A51 Nodales F: 1986

A51 has a solid saddle on her right side.
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A61 Surge M: 1994

The father of A61 is R12 Kitlope
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A85 ?: 2005

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A5 pod - A23 matriline

2009-05-05T00:47:00.006-07:00

After the death of A23 in 2000, this matriline could now also called the A43 matriline and consists of Fife, A60, brother of Ripple, A43.
Ripple had two calfs, A63 which died in the same year 1994 when it was born and Midsummer, A69, born in 1969.

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Discrete calls

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The repertoire of the A5 pod consists of the following 13 discrete calls: N2, N3, N4, N5i, N7i, N7ii, N8i, N9iii, N10, N11i, N12, N13, and N17
The calls N9iii, and N17 are exclusive for A5 pod.

The other 11 calls are shared with at least the A1s and A4s, except call N13 which is also made by the A4s only.
The calls N2, N4, N7i, and N10 are also made by the A1s and A4s.
The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.
The call N5i are also made by the A1s, A4s, Bs, Hs and I1s
The call N7ii are also made by the A1s, A4s and I1s
The cal N8i are also made by the A1s, A4s and Hs
The call N11i are also made by the A1s, A4s and Bs

Listen to the distictive calls of A5 pod
N4

N7i

N12

N17

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A7 F: 1927-1977

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A23 Stripe F: 1947-2000

A23 Stripe was captured in December 1969 with her probable calfs A16 and A21. She and A21 where released.

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A16 Corky F: 1964; Captured 1969

A16 was captured, along with several other Orcas, on December 11, 1969 in Pender Harbor, British Columbia, Canada.
Corky, along with a young unnamed male and a young female later named Patches, were sold to Marineland of the Pacific, in Palos Verdes, California
Corky was placed in a small pool with an adult male, Orky (II) also caught in Pender Harbor the year before her own capture. The two Orcas remained together at the park for the next seventeen years.

During her time at Marineland, Corky became the first orca to become pregnant and give birth in captivity. With her first calf, nobody even knew she was pregnant. On February 28, 1977, the first calf to be born alive in captivity was born at Marineland to Corky and Orky. The calf was a male and died after sixteen days.

Corky went on to give birth six more times while at Marineland. Kiva, the longest surviving calf, lived only a total of 47 days. There are several reasons as to why Corky's calves didn't survive. The first might be that she was captured too young to have learned how to properly take care of a calf. Though, even after she went through training to teach her how to nurse, the calves continued to die. Another reason the calves died so young could be attributed to the shape of Marineland's pools - small circles. Corky had to continually push her calves away from the walls and could not properly present her mammaries to the calves so that they could nurse.

Her time at Marineland ended in January of 1987, after the park was sold to SeaWorld. Corky, then pregnant for the seventh time, was moved with Orky a few hours south, to the park in San Diego. There, at SeaWorld, Corky suffered a miscarriage.

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A21 ?: 1967-1973
On 26 December 1973 A21 was struck by a ferry, the M/V Comox Queen, a ship that is part of the BC Ferries fleet.
The ship was en route from Comox to Powell River when it encountered killer whales.
The pod consisted of a bull, cow and two calves. It was one of the calves that had been struck by the ship's propellers.
The cow and the bull cradled the injured calf between them to prevent it from turning upside-down. Occasionally the bull would lose its position and the calf would roll over on its side. When this occurred the slashes caused by the propeller were quite visible. The bull, when this happened, would make a tight circle, submerge, and rise slowly beside the calf; righting it, and then proceed with the diving and surfacing. While this was going on the other calf stayed right behind the injured one.
It appears that the young whale did live for at least fifteen days. We later received a report from a resident of Powell River, who, on 10 January. 1974, observed "two whales supporting a third one, preventing it from turning over." We do not know whether the whale survived after this, as we received no further sightings or photographs from which we could identify the individual. We suspect, however, that it might have been a young A5-pod whale identified as A21, which was last seen in 1973.
(Source:Killer Whales, UBC Press, Ford, Ellis, & Balcomb, © 1994)

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A27 Okisollo M: 1971-2001

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A29 ?: 1977-1980

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A43 Ripple F: 1981

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A60 Fife M: 1992

The father of A60 is R3 Nigei

A60 injured

A little before 7am on July 27th 2003 a large group of orcas passed OrcaLab close to the Hanson Island shore, heading towards Johnstone Strait. The orcas were moving quickly in a tightly packed group, their dorsal fins rising and disappearing almost in unison. Peering through spotting ‘scopes, we were startled to see a large reddish patch that appeared to be a fresh wound in the area of the saddle patch on an individual in the middle of the group. The patch looked raw though it was not obviously bleeding. We were unsure as to the whale’s identity. A few days later, one of the whale watching vessels reported a huge wound on the right side of an orca. Then, on August 2nd, DFO researcher Graeme Ellis positively identified the injured orca as A60. The wound is huge and was almost certainly caused by the propeller of a fairly large vessel moving at considerable speed. Photographs show a series of deep cuts in A60’s right side beginning in front of the saddle patch and extending well behind it. Some of the cuts appear to have gone through the blubber layer. The images presented here, taken by photographer Rolf Hicker (http://www.hickerphoto.com/), show that A60’s wound is serious.

A60 (Fife) is 11 years old. He is a member of the A23 matriline of the A5 pod. This group suffered from two captures, in 1968 and 1969, during which it lost the majority of its members. Over the years, several A5 pod members have suffered major injuries caused by vessel propellers. The pod’s matriarch, A9, had scars on her back almost to her backbone. Another member (A21) died after being struck by a ferry propeller in 1973. A60’s mother A23 (Stripe) had several major injuries though not all were caused by propeller strikes. Today, the A5 pod has just 8 members in the wild, a number that is down considerably from the 13 of four years ago. One additional member remains captive. She is Corky, A60’s oldest sister, one of just two survivors from the era of “live captures” that took place in the 1960s & ‘70s and devasted the orca populations of the Pacific Northwest.
We cannot know if A60 will survive his injury. At this time he still looks strong and is having no apparent difficulty keeping up with the other orcas. But infection could easily set in. In the days ahead, we will be watching him closely, and hoping for his recovery from this tragic (and unnecessary) accident.
(Source: OrcaLab News - August 12th, 2003)

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A63 ?: 1994-1994

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A69 Midsummer F: 1996

A5 pod - A8 matriline

2009-05-05T00:46:00.005-07:00

A5 pod itself was named for a male, A5, also known as Top Notch. He was part of the A9 matriline, of which his mother, A9 (also known as Scar or Eve) was the matriarch. The A5 pod is currently made up of three matrilines. The line of A9 has died out with her sons, A5 (Top Notch) and A26 (Foster). She had no surviving daughters to carry on her line, although the matriarch of another family, A8 (Licka) was suspected to be her daughter.

The A8 Matriline, which consists of sisters A28 (Havannah), born in 1974, and A42 (Sonora), born in 1980, and A42's children A66 (Surf), 1996, and A79 (Current), 2004.

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The repertoire of the A5 pod consists of the following 13 discrete calls: N2, N3, N4, N5i, N7i, N7ii, N8i, N9iii, N10, N11i, N12, N13, and N17
The calls N9iii, and N17 are exclusive for A5 pod.

The other 11 calls are shared with at least the A1s and A4s, except call N13 which is also made by the A4s only.
The calls N2, N4, N7i, and N10 are also made by the A1s and A4s.
The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.
The call N5i are also made by the A1s, A4s, Bs, Hs and I1s
The call N7ii are also made by the A1s, A4s and I1s
The cal N8i are also made by the A1s, A4s and Hs
The call N11i are also made by the A1s, A4s and Bs

Listen to the distictive calls of A5 pod
N4

N7i

N12

N17

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A9 Eve F:1937-1990

A9 washed up on a beach at Donegal Head on Malcolm Island in Johnstone Strait in November 1990, her stomach containing 5 litres of fish bones representing 59 individual fish from 13 different species. In addition to 19 individual salmon het found 15 lingcod, 7 species of sole and flounder, and species of sablefish, staghorn and great sculpin. The sculpin may have found their way into the whale in the gut of lingcod.

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A8 Licka F:1953-2001

Licka (A8) was captured in December 1969 at Pender Harbour, together with her 2 year old calf Yake (no ID).
Licka was released but Yaka was kept and flown to Marine World Africa USA near San Fransisco.
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A5 Top Notch M:1957-2000

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A26 Foster M: 1971-2001

The father of A26 is R3
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A28 Havannah F: 1974

A28 is one of the few females in the resident population that has been sexually mature for many years but has never been seen with a calf.
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A42 Sonora F:1980

A42 has a new nick near tip of her dorsal fin.
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A57 Kelkpa F: 1991-1996

A57 was found alone and very ill on the morning of 16 December 1996 ia a bay south of Powel River, BC. She died later that day. Necropsy results indicated that she died of erysipelas, a bacterial infection.
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A66 Surf M: 1996

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A79 Current ?:2004

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A4 pod - A24 matriline

2009-05-05T00:45:00.006-07:00

The matriarch A24 Kelsy born in 1967 lost her mother A10 in 1983 when A10 and her youngest calf, A47, where shot by a boater.
Researcher Dave "Eagle Eye" Briggs, the California-based researcher who perches every summer on a cliff across from Robson Bight, heard the gunshots. Dave flagged down a whale-watching boat, and they went to check the whales. As the boat approached, the whales turned and came directly toward them. The passengers watched in awed horror.
"A10 pushed her wounded calf to my side of the boat," Dave later told me. "We could se the wound oozing blood. It really seemed that she was showing us: Look what you humans have done."
A10 and her baby both died that winter.
The two sisters, Yakat (A11) and Kelsy (A24), assumed the roles of clan matriarchs while still in their thirties, a young age for orca family heads.
(Source: Listening to Whales by Alexandra Morton)

Kelsy had her first calf in 1981, A41 who died in its first year. In 1983 A45 Sutley was born. The third calf was born in 1985, A49 and died in 1986. In 1988 A24 had another calf, A53, who lived for four years and died in 1992.
In that same year Kelsy had her fifth calf, A58 who died one year later in 1993.
After that Kelsy had 3 more calfs who are all still alive. A64, Schooner, born in 1995, A71, Magin, born in 1999 and A78, Toba born in 2003.

Sutley (A45) had two calfs before she died in 2001.
The first was A68, born in 1997 who died in its first year and the second was A73, the famous orca Springer. Springer was born in 2000 and lost her mother a year later.

Read more about Springers story..

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Distinctive calls

The dialects of A11 and A24 matrilines cannot easily be distinguished from each other. They are acoustically more closely related to A5 than to A1 pod

The repertoire of the A4 pod consists of the following 14 discrete calls: N1v, N2, N3, N4, N5i, N7i, N7ii, N8i, N9ii, N10, N11i, N12, N13, and N19

The calls N1v, N9ii, and N19 are exclusive for A4 pod.

The other 11 calls are shared with at least the A1s and A5s, except call N13 which is also made by the A5s only.
The calls N2, N4, N7i, and N10 are also made by the A1s and A5s.
The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.
The call N5i are also made by the A1s, A5s, Bs, Hs and I1s
The call N7ii are also made by the A1s, A5s and I1s
The cal N8i are also made by the A1s, A5s and Hs
The call N11i are also made by the A1s, A5s and Bs

Listen to the distictive calls of A4 pod

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A4 M:1952-1984

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A24 Kelsey F:1967

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A45 Sutley F:1983-2001

The father of Sutley was A6 Strider of the A30 matriline.

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A53 F:1988-1992

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A58 ?:1992-1993

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A64 Schooner ?:1995

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A71 Magin ?:1999

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A73 Springer F:2000

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A78 Toba ?:2003

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A4 pod - A11 matriline

2009-05-05T00:44:00.020-07:00

De matriarch of the A11 matriline is Yakat, the presumed daughter of A10. A4 pod once travelled at one group with a single matriarch A10, who died in 1983, along with her young calf A47, after being shot at the rubbing beaches in the Robson Bight.
(source Killer Whales second edition)

Yakat's (A11) ofspring consists of Skagit (A35), a female born in 1974, Skeena (A13), a male born in 1978, A48 a female born in 1983 and died in 1996, Nahwitti (A56) a female born in 1990 who's father is R3 and in 2007 Yakat had another calf A87 which died in the same year it was born.

The calf, A87, in the A11 group disappeared mid way through last summer (2007). It was never determined clearly whether or not it was A11's or A56's calf as a calf was seen with both at different times of the year. No clear pictures were taken to prove that both were the same or different calf.
A82, Canoona was missing in 2007 and presumed dead at the age of only 3 years old.
In 2008, A35 Skagit was reported with a new calf, A90.
In 2010 Orcalab reports that A13 Skeena was missing and presumed dead. But also in 2010 A56 Nahwitty was seen with a calf, A97.

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A4 Discrete calls

The repertoire of the A4 pod consists of the following 14 discrete calls: N1v, N2, N3, N4, N5i, N7i, N7ii, N8i, N9ii, N10, N11i, N12, N13, and N19

The calls N1v, N9ii, and N19 are exclusive for A4 pod.

The other 11 calls are shared with at least the A1s and A5s, except call N13 which is also made by the A5s only.
The calls N2, N4, N7i, and N10 are also made by the A1s and A5s.
The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.
The call N5i are also made by the A1s, A5s, Bs, Hs and I1s
The call N7ii are also made by the A1s, A5s and I1s
The cal N8i are also made by the A1s, A5s and Hs
The call N11i are also made by the A1s, A5s and Bs

Listen to the distictive calls of A4 pod

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A13 Skeena M:1978

A13 has suffered some damage to the top of his fin. The recent wound is showing up white.
In 2010 A13 was missing and presumed dead.
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A56 Nahwitti ?:1990

The father of A56 is R3

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A70 Sunny F:1999

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A77 Roller ?:2003

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A82 Canoona ?:2004-2007

On July 14 2006, a northern resident calf was struck in Johnstone Strait. Graeme Ellis has identified A82 as the whale likely involved in the recent incident.
August 2006: A82 is being cared for by A52
Canoona was missing in 2007 and presumed dead.

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A1 pod - A30 matriline

2009-05-05T00:43:00.008-07:00

The first free orca we came to know as an individual was an adult female with a distinct notch at the top of her dorsal fin. We called her "Nicola". Later she was given the identity "A2" but everyone used her name. Nicola's constant companion in those early days was a huge male called "Wavy" after his fin. Wavy was probably Nicola's son. When Nicola died in 1987 her daughter Tsitika, A30, was 40 years old and had three adult sons and a young daughter with her. The "A2s" became the "A30s". The family is always easy to recognize, partly because the huge males' dorsal fins wave from side to side when they surface. Tsitika's oldest son, Strider, was a favorite of whale watchers because of a distinctive notch in his dorsal fin. Sadly, he died in 1999. For many years the family has remained in the "core area" almost all summer. Tsitika's daughter Clio, A50, is now beginning to raise her own family. Her first baby, Bend (A72) is named after an unusual tilt to the dorsal fin as well as a nearby island. In 2005 she had her second calf A84, Klaoitsis. A54 Blinkhorn also started her own family. She had her first calf in 2001, designated A75 Cedar and another one in 2006 designated A86. In 2009 A54 had her third calf with ID A94
Source: Orcalab

The matriline was present in over 60% of all of the encounters in the Johnstone strait region, making it one of best known matrilines. The group's size has increased, from 6 in the mid-1970s to 9 as of 2007, including 4 calves. It is extremely frequent in Johnstone Strait from late spring to early fall and during summer, it frequently travels with other pods of the northern resident community.
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Discrete calls

Call type N47 is specific to the A1 pod and therein almost exclusively produced by the A30 matriline.

The repertoire of the A1 pod consists of the following 14 discrete calls:
N1i, N2, N3, N4, N5i, N7i, N7ii, N8i, N9i, N10, N11i, N12, N27 and N47

The calls N1i, N9i, N27 and N47 are exclusive for A1 pod. The other 10 calls are shared with at least the A4s and A5s.

The calls N2, N4, N7i and N10 are also made by the A4s and A5s.
The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.
The call N5i are also made by the A4s, A5s, Bs, Hs and I1s
The call N7ii are also made by the A4s, A5s and I1s
The cal N8i are also made by the A4s, A5s and Hs
The call N11i are also made by the A4s, A5s and Bs

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A30s in the Johnstone Strait 2005

Blackney (A38)

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A2 Nicola F:1927-1987

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A30 Tsitika F:1947

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A3 Wavy M:<1952-1979

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A6 Strider M:1964-1999

Strider (A6) was the father of A45.

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A38 Blackney M:1970

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A39 Pointer M:1975

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A50 Clio F:1984

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A54 Blinkhorn F:1989

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A72 Bend F:1999

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A75 Cedar ?:2001

Cedar was born on September 6th 2001. (Source Orcalab)

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A84 Klaoitsis ?:2005

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A86 ?:2006

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A1 pod - A12 matriline

2009-05-05T00:42:00.019-07:00

The matriarch A12 is called "Scimitar" because her dorsal fin has the distinctive curved shape of the sword. Born in 1941, she had two youngsters with her when she was first seen in the early 1970s... her sons A31 (Pulteney) and A33 (Nimpkish). In 1975 her daughter Simoom (A34) was born. For many years the profile of the family was that of a mum with two growing sons and a daughter swimming beside her. When the sons became adults and Simoom started having her own babies, the picture of the A12s was that of a perfect orca family. Nimpkish became "Uncle 33" because he spent much of his time with young Echo, while his brother Pulteney continued being his mum's closest companion. Pulteney died in 1997 at age 39. Today, the family's focus has shifted to the new generation of Simoom and her 5 babies, though granny Scimitar and Nimpkish are always nearby, too. Simoom is a special mum to us partly because of the timing of the birth dates of her babies... all five were born in late October or early November! In 2005 A62, Misty had her first born A83. From now on this matriline counts 4 generations.
In 2006 the fourth youngster of Simoom, A74 Stormy was missing. He is considered dead by now at the age of 6.

June 19 2009. Orcalab reports: Jared and Stubbs Island Whale Watch informed us before they came into Blackney Pass that there are two new babies in the group! A62 and A67 are new mothers!

A62 Misty had her second calf, designated as A91, Phantome. A67 Eclipse had her first calf A92, Sunday.

5 July 2009. A33 is missing and presumed dead. This leaves A12 Scimitar alone! Read the story about Scimitair here
Source: Orcalab

A34 Simoom had her 6th calf A96 in 2010.

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Video of the A12 matriline in the Robson Bight. Recorded September 2000 from the Lukwa.

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Distinctive calls

All three matrilines, but in particular the A12 matriline, produced a rendition of call type N5, first described by Ford 1987. This N5iii, also known as “A12special” among local researchers, is a relatively long call with a sharp initial rise of
the fundamental of the repetition rate to 1118±63 Hz and a
gradual rise to 1709±185 Hz.

The repertoire of the A1 pod consists of the following 14 discrete calls:
N1i, N2, N3, N4, N5i, N7i, N7ii, N8i, N9i, N10, N11i, N12, N27 and N47

The calls N1i, N9i, N27 and N47 are exclusive for A1 pod. The other 10 calls are shared with at least the A4s and A5s.

The calls N2, N4, N7i and N10 are also made by the A4s and A5s.
The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.
The call N5i are also made by the A4s, A5s, Bs, Hs and I1s
The call N7ii are also made by the A4s, A5s and I1s
The cal N8i are also made by the A4s, A5s and Hs
The call N11i are also made by the A4s, A5s and Bs

More calls of the A12s

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A12 Scimitar F:1941

A12 Scimitar was born in 1941
Scimitar (A12), is the matriarch of the A12 Matriline. The code shown above her name (F:1941) indicates that she is female and scientists estimate she was born in 1941. The two whales shown below are her two surviving offspring Nimpkish (A33) and Simoom (A34). As with many killer whales in the resident population, Nimpkish (A33) and Simoom's (A34) father is unknown.
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A31 Pulteney M:1958-1997

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A33 Nimkish M:1971-2009

Nimpkish (A33) is an adult male killer whale thought to have been born in 1971. He will travel with his mother Scimitar (A12) and sister Simoom (A34) and her offspring throughout his life.
Nimpkish died in 2009 at the age of 38.

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A34 Simoom F:1975

Simoom (A34) is an adult female killer whale born in 1975. The six whales shown below Simoom (A34) are her offspring
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A55 Echo M:1990

Echo (A55) sprouting

Echo (A55) is a young male killer whale born in 1990. Normally researchers would have had to wait until Echo reached sexual maturity, at around age 14, to determine his gender but new techniques in DNA sampling have allowed them to determine the gender of Echo (A55), his sisters Misty (A62) and Eclipse (A67).

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A62 Misty F:1993

Misty (A62) is a female killer whale born in 1993. DNA sampling has shown that Misty's father is a whale known as W2 who is part of R-Clan.
In 2005 Misty (A62) get her first calf Dusky (A83). In 2009 Misty got her second calf Phantome, A91.

This photo shows Misty (A62) when she was a calf
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A67 Eclipse F:1996

Eclipse (A67) is a young female killer whale born in 1996. She had heer first calf in 2009: ID A92, Sunday.

Eclipse (A67) when she was a calf

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A74 Stormy ?:2000-2006

Orcalab reports:

In addition to the loss of C21 (from the C6s) and A59 (from the A35s), it looks like A74, Stormy (from the A34/A12s) is also gone. This is the first A34 calf, that we know of, to have died. The report comes from Graeme Ellis. Graeme remarked that he was surprised as A74 had seemed to be very robust & energetic last Fall and was showing that he was a very good hunter. We personally have felt a strong connection to A34, as most of her calves have been born in the Fall and in this area. And this has meant that we have seen her calves very soon after their birth. Stormy was most likely born shortly after a large superpod swept through Johnstone Strait on August 20, 2000. At that time, some of the groups (including the A12s), travelled all the way east to Campbell River. When the A12s returned "up the Strait", a short while later, Stormy was there! We will never know what happened to Stormy but the news about Quadra (C21) and Canoona (A82) is a reminder to us all that the orcas are vulnerable. Their home has become a busy, hectic, noisy place.

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A80 Hope ?:2004

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A96 ?:2010

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A83 Dusky ?:2005

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A91 Phantome ?: 2009

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A92 Sunday ?:2009

A1 pod - A36 matriline

2009-05-05T00:39:00.015-07:00

Our knowledge of the A36 family goes back to 1970, when an adult female with a severely damaged dorsal fin was one of the first orcas identified in the Johnstone Strait area. Called "Tulip" for the look of her fin & later "Stubb", she was given the designation "A1", i.e. the first identified member of the first identified orca family. When A1 died in 1974 the matriarch of the family became her daughter Sophia, A36, and the family became known as "the A36s". Eventually, in 1997, Sophia died. The family consists of three brothers, A32 (Cracroft), A37 (Plumper) and A46 (Kaikash). Huge males with distinct dorsal fins and voices, they are an unmistakable presence in the "core area".
In 2010 Cracroft (A32) was missing en presumed dead. The two remaining brothers travels often with A12, Scimitar, the old matriarch of the A12 matriline.

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A36s harassing a Dall's porpoise
The incident occured on November 8th 2004.
The three brothers appeared in front of Cracroft Point where a camera of Orca-Live recorded the whole event. They started porpoising through the water. They were chasing a small Dall's porpoise. This is very unusual, because the A36s are -just like all the Residents- fish eaters and they usually don't hunt marine mammals.

The video below shows a part of the harassing.

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Distinctive calls

The call repertoire of the A36 matriline was characterized by a high proportion of N5 calls and the exclusive use of subtype N9iv. Compared to the A1-typical N9, N9iv is significantly shorter and, after the initial buzz, shows a steeper rise towards the end, which gives it a “squeaky” quality.

The repertoire of the A1 pod consists of the following 14 discrete calls:
N1i, N2, N3, N4, N5i, N7i, N7ii, N8i, N9i, N10, N11i, N12, N27 and N47

The calls N1i, N9i, N27 and N47 are exclusive for A1 pod. The other 10 calls are shared with at least the A4s and A5s.

The calls N2, N4, N7i and N10 are also made by the A4s and A5s.
The calls N3 and N12 are made by all the A clan groups.
The call N5i are also made by the A4s, A5s, Bs, Hs and I1s
The call N7ii are also made by the A4s, A5s and I1s
The cal N8i are also made by the A4s, A5s and Hs
The call N11i are also made by the A4s, A5s and Bs

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A1 Stubbs

The first known matriarch of this matriline was the female A1, known as “Stubbs” because of her lopped-off dorsal fin. Identified in 1971 she was the first whale named in the study. (Source: Killer Whales Second Edtion)

A1 was born in 1927 and died in 1974.
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A36 Sophia

A36 was possible born to A1 in 1947. She died on the age of 50 in 1997.
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A20 Hardy

A20 was probable born to A1 in 1953. A20 was also called Wavy because of the look of his dorsal fin. He died in 1992 at the age of 39.

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A32 Cracroft

A32 was born to A36 in 1964.
A32 is the father of I42, Skuna. Skuna was born 1983 to I11, of the I11 matriline.
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A37 Plumper

A37 was born to A36 in 1977
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A46 Kaikash

A46 was born to A36 in 1982

Remarks.

A46 with scar on his dorsal
Journal Cetacealab

Sunday 12 June 2005

Early in the morning we received a report of Orcas at the south end of Campania Island heading nortwest along the shoreline.It turned out to be the brothers but this time we noticed something different. As we idled parallel to them we noticed something on the right side of A46 dorsal fin but could not be sure because of the sun was shining straight on his fin from the side. But later we saw it again and this time it turned out to be for real. Looks like a big scar halfway down his dorsal with 3-4 streaks going up almost to the tip. Almost looks like he hit the rocks while chasing a salmon along the rocks. It must have happened some time between this morning and June 7th, because we did not notice it the last time.

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A36 Movements

T187

2009-04-25T04:07:00.001-07:00

March 29, 2011
Dave Ellifrit and Debbie Sharpe of the Center for Whale Research encountered T185, T185A, T186, and T187 off Sidney B.C. (48° 40.19N, 123° 20.14 W) at 1:17 pm. The whales appeared to be foraging most of the time and at approximately 2:15 they made a kill of an unknown species. There was a large slick with lots of diving gulls and milling whales. Lots of spyhops. The encounter ended just north of Coal Island ( 48° 42.08 N, 123° 22.54 W) at 4:07 p.m.

T186

2009-04-25T04:05:00.001-07:00

T185

2009-04-25T04:04:00.002-07:00

March 29, 2011

Dave Ellifrit and Debbie Sharpe of the Center for Whale Research encountered T185, T185A, T186, and T187 off Sidney B.C. (48° 40.19N, 123° 20.14 W) at 1:17 pm. The whales appeared to be foraging most of the time and at approximately 2:15 they made a kill of an unknown species. There was a large slick with lots of diving gulls and milling whales. Lots of spyhops. The encounter ended just north of Coal Island ( 48° 42.08 N, 123° 22.54 W) at 4:07 p.m.

T185's
Photo by Debbie Sharpe

T075s

2009-04-25T02:44:00.017-07:00

April 13, 2011
After receiving a report of Transients in San Juan Channel, Center for Whale Research staff Dave Ellifrit and Erin Heydenreich departed on vessel Starlet from Snug Harbor. The encounter began at 9:56 am mid San Juan Channel (48° 34.95 N; 123° 02.07 W) with the T137's,T49B's and T49A's traveling in a loose group. We later encountered the T65A's and T36A's traveling up San Juan Channel. We also encountered the T75B's and T75C which have not been previously encountered by the Center. The encounter ended in Boundary Pass off John's Island (48° 40.81 N; 123° 08.73 W) at 11:26 am. The whales spread out and were heading toward Saturna Island, B.C. In all we had 20 transients: T20, T21, T36A,T36A1,T49A,T49A1,T49A3,T49B,T49B1,T49B2,T75B,T75B1,T75C,T65A,T65A2,T65A3,T65A4,T137,T137A, And T137B.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

April 14, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters we encountered transients orcas as they were traveling north up San Juan Channel. They were just outside of Friday Harbor and quite close to the entrance (see image below). It was the T49As, T49Bs, T75Bs and T75C. We left them at the north of Yellow Island, still heading north.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island, WA

April 15, 2011
Whales were spotted at Cattle Pass at about 9 a.m. The whales were the T49As, T49Bs, T75Bs and T75C (Transient orcas). Throughout the day they traveled up San Juan Channel - the first 2 hours they were feeding on what I believe was a Steller sea lion kill, based on the length of time and the amount of birds that stayed with the whales looking for scraps. At noon on the Western Prince the whales were still south of Friday Harbor and one whale did a very unusual thing, and repeated it several times.
The whale was swimming backwards!
I have not ever seen that before but have heard others have. At about 5:30 pm on Maya's Westside Charters we encountered the same whales as they made a kill in President Channel, along the northwest side of Orcas Island. When we left they were still heading north.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

18 april 2011
I found the T049A's and B's with T075B and T075B1 southeast of Hein Bank early afternoon on April 18th after following up Jeanne Hyde's shore sighting in the morning. They tracked to Eastern Bank where they then split up into two groups and each group killed a harbor seal (see photo, of T75B leaping after a seal).
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

April 24, 2011

On Sunday April 24th, 2011 around 1:15pm, my husband and I spotted an Orca pod between Lyle Point (Anderson Island) and the Green Marker at the mouth of the Nisqually River. We witnessed at least three adults and one calf. They were surrounding and herding a harbor seal I would assume in an attempt to teach the calf hunting skills. At times they would surface and appear to roll over onto the seal and submerge it as well as rolling to create a wake that would wash the seal around into the path of another pod member. In one instance three adult Orca surfaced simultaneously, forming a perfect triangle shaped corral around the seal then went back down again. We watched them toy with the seal for at least an hour and a half until the rain set in and we decided to make our way back to the boat launch. By the time we left the pod had moved closer to the mouth of Orro Bay (Anderson Island), in their pursuit of the seal, and had begun to breach the water and splash down near or on top of the seal, we couldn't tell which for sure.

Neither my husband or I had ever seen an Orca so this was very exciting to say the least! We do a lot of fishing and crabbing in that area and never expected to see something so remarkable. Hopefully these pictures (see photo below) will be of use in identifying the pod. There did appear to be one Orca with a longer dorsal fin than the rest, a male I assume, and one calf about twice the size of a large porpoise. I was not able to get a good picture of the male's dorsal however and I also saw three large scar-like marks on the left side of the calf but could not get a picture of those either. I have cropped some of these pictures in order to get a better look at the markings.
Christa Haynes, Anderson Island, WA

T75C off Anderson Island, WA, April 24, 2011

Photo by Christa Haynes

April 26, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters at about 4:00pm we received a call of three transient orca spotted near Pt. Caution, coming up San Juan Channel. The three whales present were: T75B, T75B1 and T75C. These are the same whales who were at Anderson Island on the 24th. Later, from shore, I watched as they continued up San Juan Island, entering Spieden Channel, traveling west in mid-channel. I last saw them at 7:05pm angling toward Henry Island. T75B and T75C were seen on 4-15 swimming backward.
Today they were swimming backward again, as witnessed by me from shore and Ivan and Chris on the Western Explorer.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

April 27, 2011
April 27, 2011, at 5pm, on the Western Explorer we encountered T75B, T75B1 and T75C heading west in Harney Channel close to Shaw Island. There had been a sighting early in the day of three whales in this same general area. This image is of T75C passing by Blind Island.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

Transient Orca T75C, Blind Island April 27, 2011

Jeanne Hyde, San Island

April 26 - 27
I had three transient orca inside Deer Harbor this afternoon (4/27). Pretty rare to see orca so close to the marina but with transients, one never knows. I heard from Ivan on Western Prince they are the T-75's. They have been around the Wasp Islands part of yesterday and all day today. Nice sight on such a dreary day.
Tom Averna, Deer Harbor Charters

April 28
April 28, 2011 after receiving a call at about 4pm, from Simon Pidcock of Ocean Ecoventures out of Cowichan Bay, we headed up there on Maya's Westside Charters. There we encountered T75B, T75B1 and T75C. More of the encounter on my blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

Transient orcas, T75s, in Cowichan Bay, BC April 28, 2011

Photo by Jeanne Hyde

April 30, 2011
April 30, 2011 at 3:00 pm, on Maya's Westside Charters, we met up with several transient orcas north of the Coal Docks, heading northwest. Shortly into the encounter they slowed down, split and each group attacked prey. The group we watched attacked a harbor seal. Both groups seemed to move off at the same time, continuing to move northwest at a good speed. I identified T75B, T75B1, T75C, T36As, T65As and the T137s. I'll post pics on my blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

13 May, 2011

Transient orca T75 chasing a Harbor porpoise May 13, 2011
Photo by Mark Malleson

May 13, 2011
Dave Ellifrit, Debbie Sharpe, Kira Kranzler, and Mercedes Powell of the Center for Whale Research departed Snug Harbor at 10:50 a.m. with a report of transients just off of Discovery Island, B.C. Approximately seven miles east of Seabird Point (48° 20.83 N,123° 05.77 W) at 11:35 a.m. we found the group of seven transients traveling slowly in a tight group, heading south west. The group included T75, T75A, T73B and the T77s. We were with the group for several hours as they zigzagged their way south west into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Our encounter ended at 2:01 p.m. with the whales still headed south (48° 16.93 N, 123° 08.21 W).
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

June 15, 2011

Transient Orcas near Yellow Island. And then another phone call! Another group of five Transient Orcas, the T75s, over near Sidney, BC, coming our way. We chose the pod near Sidney, and then with only one other boat, watched them glide lazily down Sidney Ch. toward D'Arcy Island. It was an incredibly beautiful evening. See photo below.

Capt. Jim Maya, San Juan Westside Charters, San Juan Island, WA

Transient orcas the T75s, off Sidney, BC June 15, 2011

Photo by Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Isl.

June 20
First time sighting in Clayoquot - after 20+years that doesn't happen often. We had the Alaskan (Transient orca) gang (T075s) visit on June 20. They harassed a fur ball (Sea Otter) for a while but didn't kill it. They were oddly friendly in that they approached and circled 2 of the boats. Not totally sure if the bull was in fact T075A as a chunk is missing from the top trailing edge. Can anyone verify (see photo below)? (Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research verified the bull as T075A)
Rod Palm, Strawberry Isle Marine Research Society, Tofino, BC

Transient orca T75A, Clayoquot Sound, BC, June 20, 2011

Photo by Eugene Stewart

T065s

2009-04-25T02:30:00.011-07:00

April 13, 2011
We had the (Transient orcas) T-137's, the T-65's, T-20, T-21, T36B's and others I can't remember. The boat left the dock a few hours after sighting the whales this morning, thinking we would probably wind up doing a wildlife tour because the whales were moving fast out of our range, which is what we told our guests, but sure enough Cameron and Natalie found some transients off Waldron (Island, San Juan Islands). To all of you on the north shore of Orcas, keep an eye peeled.
Deer Harbor Chaters, Orcas Island, WA

April 13, 2011
After receiving a report of Transients in San Juan Channel, Center for Whale Research staff Dave Ellifrit and Erin Heydenreich departed on vessel Starlet from Snug Harbor. The encounter began at 9:56 am mid San Juan Channel (48° 34.95 N; 123° 02.07 W) with the T137's,T49B's and T49A's traveling in a loose group. We later encountered the T65A's and T36A's traveling up San Juan Channel. We also encountered the T75B's and T75C which have not been previously encountered by the Center. The encounter ended in Boundary Pass off John's Island (48° 40.81 N; 123° 08.73 W) at 11:26 am. The whales spread out and were heading toward Saturna Island, B.C. In all we had 20 transients: T20, T21, T36A,T36A1,T49A,T49A1,T49A3,T49B,T49B1,T49B2,T75B,T75B1,T75C,T65A,T65A2,T65A3,T65A4,T137,T137A, And T137B.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

April 15, 2011
Graeme Ellis of Canada's Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans called in a report of his encounter with the large group of Transients in Sansum Narrows and Ladysmith Harbor, B.C. from April 15th. They had a total of about 31 orcas total, IDs include the T100s, T36s, T20 & T21, T124s, T65As T90s, T99s, T137s, T87s and T37s. They found them in Swanson Channel after we got the call from Tamar Griggs, then followed them down as they went into and back out of Ladysmith Island, and left them around 7 pm up by Yellow Pt.

19 April 2011,
4-19-11 on the Western Prince at about 1:30 pm we encountered many transient orcas attacking a Steller sea lion just south of Patos Island lighthouse. T36 and a couple juveniles were off, while others were in the fray just a few hundred yards to west.
The whales identified were members of the T36s, T99s, T65As, and T123s. The largest male, among all of these whales, was a sprouter T123A. It appeared to be a training session with groups taking turns attacking the sea lion. When we left the scene the Steller sea lion was still alive. About two miles away and approaching the general area of the whales and the sea lion, were more whales. Identified in this group were T101, T101A, T101B and T102.

April 30, 2011
April 30, 2011 at 3:00 pm, on Maya's Westside Charters, we met up with several transient orcas north of the Coal Docks, heading northwest. Shortly into the encounter they slowed down, split and each group attacked prey. The group we watched attacked a harbor seal. Both groups seemed to move off at the same time, continuing to move northwest at a good speed. I identified T75B, T75B1, T75C, T36As, T65As and the T137s. I'll post pics on my blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

April 30, 2011
Finally found some Transients yesterday (April 30). They seemed to disappear for a few days but we found a group of about 15 yesterday including T37's, T65A and calves and T137A. They were in the middle of the Strait of Georgia and were heading for the coal docks. Here's a couple pics, one of the whales by the ferry terminal and another just past it. Cheers,
Gary Sutton,
Wild Whales Vancouver

May 19, 2011
Yesterday (5/19) at 13:10 we ran into this group of killer whales outside the Neah Bay jetty heading West in the strait. There were at least 7 different individuals traveling, saw a few taillobs and quick turns as well! Attached are several pictures - are these residents or transients? Please let us know when you are able to ID them, we really like having that information for our record. Also it helps us to know if we are making correct guesses on IDs. Thanks!
Adrianne Akmajian, Marine Mammal Technician, Makah Fisheries Management

From the photos we sent on to our list of researchers, we received this reply with IDs from Graeme Ellis of Canada's Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans:
Hi Susan, I see T099, T099A, T099B, T065A and T065A4.
Cheers, Graeme

May 18, 2011
Dave Ellifrit, Erin Heydenreich, Mercedes Powell, Kira Kranzler of the Center for Whale Research departed Snug Harbor on a clear and sunny afternoon at 3.59 pm with news of Transients. At 4.29pm we found the eight whales loosely spread about a mile east of Beaumont Shoal buoy
(48° 26.44 N; 123° 08.89 W).The individual whales were T99, T99A, T99B, T99C, T65A,T65A2, T65A3 andT65A4. The Females and calves mainly stayed in one group whilst two young males T99A and T65A2 played together constantly throughout the encounter. We stayed with the whales until 6.25pm when we left them about one mile South East of Seabird Point (48° 24.86 N; 123° 12.92 W) in tight medium travel, heading South West.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

Transients T99s and T65As, Haro Strait May 18, 2011
Photo by Kira Kranzler, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island
taken under MMPA permit #532-1822

June 15, 2011

June 15

Today we encountered 5 Transient Killer Whales. I have rarely seen both residents and transients in the same area, ignoring each other, but I wonder if they do have a cosmic agreement in sharing the range? Ironic that so often, when the residents are out of range, then here come the transients! The transients are much less frequent, so harder to identify individuals. T-65A with a calf, juvenile, and 2 others off of Wasp Passage at about 12:30pm. I noticed at least 1, maybe 2, had what appeared to me to be an open saddle patch; dark pigment going into the lighter patch. I wonder if anyone else saw and/or photographed that. I mention this, as a distinction of Transients was a closed saddle patch- no dark pigment, solid light patch on all of them. The whales headed west into San Juan Channel, staying closer to Orcas Island, although erratic surfacings after long dives in the pass, then they seemed to be hunting in the channel with circling, arching dives, and youngster tail flukes in the air! At 3pm they were still in San Juan Channel closer to Spieden Island.
Caroline Armon, Marine Naturalist, SSAMN, San Juan Excursions

June 15
Saw these ladies (see photo below - 3 adults and 1 calf) about 30 minutes outside of Friday Harbor on Wednesday morning, 6/15. We were so excited! We were told they were transients (due to the small grouping of only 4) and heard rumors later that they were the T-65's I think.
Jennifer Mueller

Transient orcas, T65s, Friday Harbor, WA, June 15, 2011
Photo by Jennifer Mueller

We had four transient orca (categorized as the T-65A's) come through Deer Harbor right when we were pulling out of the marina. They came through a narrow passage called Pole Pass at low tide slack water.Today's low tide was one of the lowest tides of the year. Not only that buttiming their transit of the pass when there was not any current running is a marvel of navigation. The current runs up to three to five knots through there on a normal tide. On today's tide it would be considerably stronger.

Tom Averna, Deer Harbor Charters, Orcas Island, WA

T099s

2009-04-25T00:33:00.008-07:00

April 8,2011
We located a group of transient orcas in Swanson Channel, south of Active Pass at approximately 12:30, in flat calm water. The group had killed a seal or two just prior to our arrival. They were busily guarding the entrails of their prey from swooping seagulls as we came on scene. The group consisted of females, juveniles and calves that we later ID'ed as the T36's, T37 and the T99's. After their meal, the whales were very social, and we were able to listen to some amazing vocals that continued for most of our encounter. The adults T36, T36B, T37 and T99 were observed logging at the surface several times, while the calves and juveniles were extremely social with one another, and about 100 metres from the dozing adults. Between these episodes, the calves would temporarily rejoin with the adults before once again forming into a play group. We were fortunate to observe spyhops, lunges, tail slaps, and tail stands. So much for serious, quiet transients. I love it when the whales have me re-thinking all those generalizations.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch, B.C.

April 8, 2011
Center for Whale Research
We encountered the T99's,T36's and T37 milling and socializing in Swanson Channel about a mile off Mouat Point, North Pender Island B.C. We had 8 transients T99,T99A,T99B,T99C,T36,T36B,T36B1 and T37. After about 45 minutes of milling, tactile behavior the whales spread out in a loose group and headed down Swanson Channel moving inshore toward North Pender. The encounter ended 2 miles west of Bedwell Harbor.

T99,T36B1, and T36Bin Swanson Channel, April 8, 2011
Photo by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research

April 8
Dave Ellifrit and Erin Heydenreich of the Center for Whale Research encountered the T99's,T36's and T37 (see photo below) milling and socializing in Swanson Channel about a mile off Mouat Point, North Pender Island B.C.(48° 45.74 N;123° 19.83 W) at 2:30 pm. We had 8 transients T99,T99A,T99B,T99C,T36,T36B,T36B1 and T37. After about 45 minutes of milling, tactile behavior the whales spread out in a loose group and headed down Swanson Channel moving inshore toward North Pender. The encounter ended 2 miles west of Bedwell Harbor (48° 44.25 N;123° 15.37 W) at 3:48 pm.

April 15, 2011
Graeme Ellis of Canada's Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans called in a report of his encounter with the large group of Transients in Sansum Narrows and Ladysmith Harbor, B.C. from April 15th. They had a total of about 31 orcas total, IDs include the T100s, T36s, T20 & T21, T124s, T65As T90s, T99s, T137s, T87s and T37s. They found them in Swanson Channel after we got the call from Tamar Griggs, then followed them down as they went into and back out of Ladysmith Island, and left them around 7 pm up by Yellow Pt.

April 17,2011
Ken Balcomb and Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research arrived on scene just north of East Point (48° 47.08 N; 123° 02.51 W) at 12:15 p.m. The transients, who had been traveling north into the southern Strait of Georgia, had just turned around and came charging back out of the tide rip and began some intense milling around Rosenfeld Rock which had 30-40 Steller sea lions on it. There were thousands of Bonaparte's gulls working the tide rips. The whales briefly harassed one sea lion but apparently let it go. A couple whales continued to cruise around the rock while the rest of the whales on the calm side of the tide rip milled around the area in a social kind of way. There was another group of about 10 T's in the area but were on the rough side of the tide rip so we did not make it to them. We ended the encounter at 48° 47.23Np; 123° 02.37 W, around 1:30 p.m.as the whales turned north again into the sloppy waters of Georgia Strait. The whales photographed by CWR: T36, T36A, T36A1, T36B, T36B1, T37, T99, T99A, T99B, T99C, T124, T124D, T124E, T137, T137A, and T137B. Sixteen whales total.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

19 April 2011,
4-19-11 on the Western Prince at about 1:30 pm we encountered many transient orcas attacking a Steller sea lion just south of Patos Island lighthouse. T36 and a couple juveniles were off, while others were in the fray just a few hundred yards to west.
The whales identified were members of the T36s, T99s, T65As, and T123s. The largest male, among all of these whales, was a sprouter T123A. It appeared to be a training session with groups taking turns attacking the sea lion. When we left the scene the Steller sea lion was still alive. About two miles away and approaching the general area of the whales and the sea lion, were more whales. Identified in this group were T101, T101A, T101B and T102.

May 18, 2011
Dave Ellifrit, Erin Heydenreich, Mercedes Powell, Kira Kranzler of the Center for Whale Research departed Snug Harbor on a clear and sunny afternoon at 3.59 pm with news of Transients. At 4.29pm we found the eight whales loosely spread about a mile east of Beaumont Shoal buoy
(48° 26.44 N; 123° 08.89 W).The individual whales were T99, T99A, T99B, T99C, T65A,T65A2, T65A3 andT65A4. The Females and calves mainly stayed in one group whilst two young males T99A and T65A2 played together constantly throughout the encounter. We stayed with the whales until 6.25pm when we left them about one mile South East of Seabird Point (48° 24.86 N; 123° 12.92 W) in tight medium travel, heading South West.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

Transients T99s and T165As, Haro Strait May 18, 2011
Photo by Kira Kranzler, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island
taken under MMPA permit #532-1822

May 19, 2011
Yesterday (5/19) at 13:10 we ran into this group of killer whales outside the Neah Bay jetty heading West in the strait. There were at least 7 different individuals traveling, saw a few taillobs and quick turns as well! Attached are several pictures - are these residents or transients? Please let us know when you are able to ID them, we really like having that information for our record. Also it helps us to know if we are making correct guesses on IDs. Thanks!
Adrianne Akmajian, Marine Mammal Technician, Makah Fisheries Management

From the photos we sent on to our list of researchers, we received this reply with IDs from Graeme Ellis of Canada's Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans:
Hi Susan, I see T099, T099A, T099B, T065A and T065A4.
Cheers, Graeme

T37s

2009-04-25T00:29:00.004-07:00

April 8,2001

We located a group of transient orcas in Swanson Channel, south of Active Pass at approximately 12:30, in flat calm water. The group had killed a seal or two just prior to our arrival. They were busily guarding the entrails of their prey from swooping seagulls as we came on scene (see photo below). The group consisted of females, juveniles and calves that we later ID'ed as the T36's, T37 and the T99's. After their meal, the whales were very social, and we were able to listen to some amazing vocals that continued for most of our encounter. The adults T36, T36B, T37 and T99 were observed logging at the surface several times, while the calves and juveniles were extremely social with one another, and about 100 metres from the dozing adults. Between these episodes, the calves would temporarily rejoin with the adults before once again forming into a play group. We were fortunate to observe spyhops, lunges, tail slaps, and tail stands. So much for serious, quiet transients. I love it when the whales have me re-thinking all those generalizations.

Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch, B.C.

April 15, 2011
Graeme Ellis of Canada's Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans called in a report of his encounter with the large group of Transients in Sansum Narrows and Ladysmith Harbor, B.C. from April 15th. They had a total of about 31 orcas total, IDs include the T100s, T36s, T20 & T21, T124s, T65As T90s, T99s, T137s, T87s and T37s. They found them in Swanson Channel after we got the call from Tamar Griggs, then followed them down as they went into and back out of Ladysmith Island, and left them around 7 pm up by Yellow Pt.

April 17, 2011
Ken Balcomb and Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research arrived on scene just north of East Point (48° 47.08 N; 123° 02.51 W) at 12:15 p.m. The transients, who had been traveling north into the southern Strait of Georgia, had just turned around and came charging back out of the tide rip and began some intense milling around Rosenfeld Rock which had 30-40 Steller sea lions on it. There were thousands of Bonaparte's gulls working the tide rips. The whales briefly harassed one sea lion but apparently let it go. A couple whales continued to cruise around the rock while the rest of the whales on the calm side of the tide rip milled around the area in a social kind of way. There was another group of about 10 T's in the area but were on the rough side of the tide rip so we did not make it to them. We ended the encounter at 48° 47.23Np; 123° 02.37 W, around 1:30 p.m.as the whales turned north again into the sloppy waters of Georgia Strait. The whales photographed by CWR: T36, T36A, T36A1, T36B, T36B1, T37, T99, T99A, T99B, T99C, T124, T124D, T124E, T137, T137A, and T137B. Sixteen whales total.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

April 30, 2011
Finally found some Transients yesterday (April 30). They seemed to disappear for a few days but we found a group of about 15 yesterday including T37's, T65A and calves and T137A. They were in the middle of the Strait of Georgia and were heading for the coal docks. Here's a couple pics, one of the whales by the ferry terminal and another just past it. Cheers,
Gary Sutton,
Wild Whales Vancouver

T049Bs

2009-04-24T04:52:00.011-07:00

April 3, 2011
We had the T049A's and the T049B's off of Victoria heading east on the afternoon of April 3rd. T020 and T021 were spotted close to the group heading west towards Race Rocks.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

April 5, 2011
DKE tagged along aboard the Western Prince after Captain Ivan saw some whales from the ferry just outside of Friday Harbor in the early evening. We found the whales with the help of Jeannie Hyde around 1845 just NW of Yellow Island (approximately 48 36.73N 123 03.44W). The whales were the T49As and T49Bs, six whales in all. They moved northwest slowly in a tight group, barely showing any saddle. Present were T49A, T49A1, T49B, T49B1, and the two newish calves T49A3 and T49B2. T49A2 was not there and it is unclear as to whether this juvenile dispersed or died. We ended the encounter and left them still slowly heading NW, mid San Juan Channel, between Jones Island and Limestone Pt., SJI at 1925.

April 8, 2011
Turns out we had a report of orcas in Haro Strait, so we motored over towards Discovery Island (near Victoria, BC) and we were very lucky to have a chance to see the T20s, T49As and T49Bs. They were being a bit "un-transient like" in their behavior today. Lots of surface time, logging, and generally just "hanging out". Then down for 5-7 minutes, only to reappear in a random location (very transient like!) Even from 300 yards away, the whales were impressive, especially T20 and his massive notched fin! The whales appeared content to just "mosey" at a leisurely pace (OK, I'm a Texan so I can use the word mosey).
John Boyd (JB), SSAMN Marine Naturalist, Western Prince, Friday Harbor, WA

April 9, 2011
I came across Transient orcas T020 and T021 with the T049A's and B's late morning on April 8 offshore off Gordon Head (see photo below). They headed south around Discovery Island.
In the afternoon T020 and T021 split off and headed south-west out the Juan de Fuca and the others cruised the shoreline of Victoria's waterfront and were last seen off the mouth of Victoria harbour at 1700hrs.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

Transient orcas T49As and T49Bs off Gordon Head, B.C.

Transient Orcas T49B2 and T49B, San Juan Channel April 13, 2011

Photo by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research,

taken under MMPA permit #532-1822

April 14, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters we encountered transients orcas as they were traveling north up San Juan Channel. They were just outside of Friday Harbor and quite close to the entrance (see image below). It was the T49As, T49Bs, T75Bs and T75C. We left them at the north of Yellow Island, still heading north.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island, WA

April 15, 2011
Whales were spotted at Cattle Pass at about 9 a.m. The whales were the T49As, T49Bs, T75Bs and T75C (Transient orcas). Throughout the day they traveled up San Juan Channel - the first 2 hours they were feeding on what I believe was a Steller sea lion kill, based on the length of time and the amount of birds that stayed with the whales looking for scraps. At noon on the Western Prince the whales were still south of Friday Harbor and one whale did a very unusual thing, and repeated it several times.
The whale was swimming backwards!
I have not ever seen that before but have heard others have. At about 5:30 pm on Maya's Westside Charters we encountered the same whales as they made a kill in President Channel, along the northwest side of Orcas Island. When we left they were still heading north.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

18 April 2011
We left Friday Harbor with only vague sightings of Transients earlier in the morning, and we finally found them hanging out southeast of Hein Bank. And it was so amazing. Two family groups, the T49As and the T49Bs were traveling together, and they seemed to be almost out for a "casual swim". Normally with Transients we'll see 3-4 quick surfacings and then down for a long interval up to 6 minutes. Well, these guys would come to the surface very leisurely about 8-9 times, then go down for 4 minutes, and repeat. They were highly non-directional, one minute popping up 400 yards away and moving away from us, and then they'd turn underwater and show up passing our stern.
18 april 2011
I found the T049A's and B's with T075B and T075B1 southeast of Hein Bank early afternoon on April 18th after following up Jeanne Hyde's shore sighting in the morning. They tracked to Eastern Bank where they then split up into two groups and each group killed a harbor seal.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

John Boyd,SSAMN Marine Naturalist, Western Prince, San Juan Island, WA

T049As

2009-04-24T04:50:00.011-07:00

Transient orcas T49As and T49Bs off Gordon Head, B.C.

April 9, 2011 Photo by Mark Malleson

April 13, 2011
After receiving a report of Transients in San Juan Channel, Center for Whale Research staff Dave Ellifrit and Erin Heydenreich departed on vessel Starlet from Snug Harbor. The encounter began at 9:56 am mid San Juan Channel (48° 34.95 N; 123° 02.07 W) with the T137's,T49B's and T49A's traveling in a loose group. We later encountered the T65A's and T36A's traveling up San Juan Channel. We also encountered the T75B's and T75C which have not been previously encountered by the Center. The encounter ended in Boundary Pass off John's Island (48° 40.81 N; 123° 08.73 W) at 11:26 am. The whales spread out and were heading toward Saturna Island, B.C. In all we had 20 transients: T20, T21, T36A,T36A1,T49A,T49A1,T49A3,T49B,T49B1,T49B2,T75B,T75B1,T75C,T65A,T65A2,T65A3,T65A4,T137,T137A, And T137B.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

April 14, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters we encountered transients orcas as they were traveling north up San Juan Channel. They were just outside of Friday Harbor and quite close to the entrance (see image below). It was the T49As, T49Bs, T75Bs and T75C. We left them at the north of Yellow Island, still heading north.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island, WA

April 15, 2011
Whales were spotted at Cattle Pass at about 9 a.m. The whales were the T49As, T49Bs, T75Bs and T75C (Transient orcas). Throughout the day they traveled up San Juan Channel - the first 2 hours they were feeding on what I believe was a Steller sea lion kill, based on the length of time and the amount of birds that stayed with the whales looking for scraps. At noon on the Western Prince the whales were still south of Friday Harbor and one whale did a very unusual thing, and repeated it several times.
The whale was swimming backwards!
I have not ever seen that before but have heard others have. At about 5:30 pm on Maya's Westside Charters we encountered the same whales as they made a kill in President Channel, along the northwest side of Orcas Island. When we left they were still heading north.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

18 April 2011
We left Friday Harbor with only vague sightings of Transients earlier in the morning, and we finally found them hanging out southeast of Hein Bank. And it was so amazing. Two family groups, the T49As and the T49Bs were traveling together, and they seemed to be almost out for a "casual swim". Normally with Transients we'll see 3-4 quick surfacings and then down for a long interval up to 6 minutes. Well, these guys would come to the surface very leisurely about 8-9 times, then go down for 4 minutes, and repeat. They were highly non-directional, one minute popping up 400 yards away and moving away from us, and then they'd turn underwater and show up passing our stern.
18 april 2011
I found the T049A's and B's with T075B and T075B1 southeast of Hein Bank early afternoon on April 18th after following up Jeanne Hyde's shore sighting in the morning. They tracked to Eastern Bank where they then split up into two groups and each group killed a harbor seal.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

John Boyd,SSAMN Marine Naturalist, Western Prince, San Juan Island, WA

T102

2009-04-24T03:14:00.007-07:00

March 28, 2011
March 28th 2011, around 3.30pm was one of those special days when word came in that a number of Transients were seen traveling north in Haro Strait. By the time we caught up with them in a zodiac having traveled from Victoria, they were heading toward Active Pass. There was considerable chop on the water but we could see the two little ones rise well above the waves. The two males, off on their own, appeared to hunt below the surface and what ever they caught, it was soon dispatched.

Mark Malleson, our Skipper, identified the group as the T100's and the T101's with the two males, as T102 and T101A. Always awesome to see these wild and free Orca in their 'Natural' environment.
Marie, Orca-Magic, 'Prince of Whales ', Victoria BC.

19 April 2011,
4-19-11 on the Western Prince at about 1:30 pm we encountered many transient orcas attacking a Steller sea lion just south of Patos Island lighthouse. T36 and a couple juveniles were off, while others were in the fray just a few hundred yards to west.
The whales identified were members of the T36s, T99s, T65As, and T123s. The largest male, among all of these whales, was a sprouter T123A. It appeared to be a training session with groups taking turns attacking the sea lion. When we left the scene the Steller sea lion was still alive. About two miles away and approaching the general area of the whales and the sea lion, were more whales. Identified in this group were T101, T101A, T101B and T102.

May 12, 2011
5-12-2011 on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon, after receiving a call, we headed north and west to the north side of Galiano Island, B.C. where we encountered T20 and T21 heading east at 3:00. Farther east another boat came across T137, T137A and T137B. T137C was not present. Another boat was about 3 miles northwest of our location, returning to Vancouver, and came across several other whales. We did not see those whales and left the scene at 3:40. We made a return trip and at 5:35 encountered the same whales. However, this time many more whales approached from the west and joined the others. There was quite a lot of above water vocalizing and extraordinary surface action. The whales present included some of the same whales that were photographed at Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday. The whales ID'd on the late encounter were: T20, T21, T137, T137A, T137B, T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T18, T19, T19B, T19C, T23, T23D, T26 and T26A. There was a total of 22 whales identified and possibly one or two more. I'll post more about the encounter along with a video clip and pictures on myblog.
Jeanne Hyde , San Juan Island

May 12
Today was one of those whales everywhere days. We left dock with no rumours, or even hints as to where to start. We soon got word of a humpback near Porlier Pass, and located it in Trincomali Channel, just south of the pass. This humpback was not exhibiting usual behaviour though. It was surfacing fast, and milling erratically, with just 1 breath per surface sequence and no long, lazy blow. Perhaps it knew what we were about to find out - transient orcas were in the Georgia Strait, and some were near. We headed out of the pass, and slightly south in Georgia Strait for an encounter with T20 and T21. These two individuals are sighted frequently in the area, and just continued on their way south, in typical transient fashion, during our encounter with them. Heading home across the strait, we encountered another 4 individuals - the T101's and T102. This group was also headed south in Georgia Strait. Watching them, we noted how tall T101A's fin is becoming, although still juvenile compared to T102 (see photo below). As we left them to head for dock at approximately 15:20, we heard that there were yet more transients in Active Pass. Seals, watch out!

Transient orcas T101A & T102 in Georgia Strait May 12, 2011

Photo by Joan Lopez, Vancouver Whale Watch

On Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we headed up Boundary Pass toward East Pt. where transients had been spotted. The 1st group we encountered were 4 whales, which included T19B (I could see three other whales with him & am assuming his constant companions T18, T19 and T19C, but I didn't get pictures of them for proof of presence.) We left them and headed toward Alden Bank. Just north of Sucia Island we encountered a 2nd group: T124C, T124A, T124A2, T124A3 and T124A4. We continued on and encountered a 3rd group: T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T124, T124D, T124E, T124A1, T36, T36B,and T36B1. They changed direction and the 2nd group and the 3rd group joined up heading back in the direction of Pt. Roberts.
On our way home, traveling through Boundary Pass we encountered a 4th group: T137, T137A and T137B. A grand total of 28 killer whales.
Of course I'll be posting to my blog about this exciting day on the water.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

June 10,2011
2:30 pm: The Transient Orca were again spotted (see below for earlier report - SM) by Breton Islands, Hoskyn Channel. the ferry was kind enough to report this sighting to Aaron, Campbell River Whale Watching. The whales did, however disappear somewhere and were not spotted by the afternoon tours.
June 10
9:40 am: 4 to 5 Orca between Marina Island and Francisco Point in a general Southward direction closer to Quadra Island. There was one large male, possibly T102. From: Garry, Aboriginal Journeys
The two above reports submitted by Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins of BC, Powell River, B.C.

T101s

2009-04-24T03:12:00.007-07:00

March 28, 2011
After the T100's and T101's passed the Center for Whale Research, NW San Juan Island, Dave Ellifrit and Debbie Sharpe departed in vessel Starlet. They encountered the T100,T100C,T100E,T100B, T100B1 just south of Turn Point (48° 39.29N, 123° 14.03 W) heading north at 12:44 pm. T101A and T102 were encountered shorly after traveling seperately from the previous group. The groups merged north of Turn point ( 48° 45.71 N, 123° 19.42 W) and began porposing west, where the encounter ended at 2:12 p.m.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

March 28th 2011, around 3.30pm was one of those special days when word came in that a number of Transients were seen traveling north in Haro Strait. By the time we caught up with them in a zodiac having traveled from Victoria, they were heading toward Active Pass. There was considerable chop on the water but we could see the two little ones rise well above the waves. The two males, off on their own, appeared to hunt below the surface and what ever they caught, it was soon dispatched.
Mark Malleson, our Skipper, identified the group as the T100's and the T101's with the two males, as T102 and T101A. Always awesome to see these wild and free Orca in their 'Natural' environment.
Marie, Orca-Magic, 'Prince of Whales ', Victoria BC.

19 April 2011,
4-19-11 on the Western Prince at about 1:30 pm we encountered many transient orcas attacking a Steller sea lion just south of Patos Island lighthouse. T36 and a couple juveniles were off, while others were in the fray just a few hundred yards to west.
The whales identified were members of the T36s, T99s, T65As, and T123s. The largest male, among all of these whales, was a sprouter T123A. It appeared to be a training session with groups taking turns attacking the sea lion. When we left the scene the Steller sea lion was still alive. About two miles away and approaching the general area of the whales and the sea lion, were more whales. Identified in this group were T101, T101A, T101B and T102.

May 12, 2011
5-12-2011 on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon, after receiving a call, we headed north and west to the north side of Galiano Island, B.C. where we encountered T20 and T21 heading east at 3:00. Farther east another boat came across T137, T137A and T137B. T137C was not present. Another boat was about 3 miles northwest of our location, returning to Vancouver, and came across several other whales. We did not see those whales and left the scene at 3:40. We made a return trip and at 5:35 encountered the same whales. However, this time many more whales approached from the west and joined the others. There was quite a lot of above water vocalizing and extraordinary surface action. The whales present included some of the same whales that were photographed at Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday. The whales ID'd on the late encounter were: T20, T21, T137, T137A, T137B, T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T18, T19, T19B, T19C, T23, T23D, T26 and T26A. There was a total of 22 whales identified and possibly one or two more. I'll post more about the encounter along with a video clip and pictures on myblog.
Jeanne Hyde , San Juan Island

May 12
Today was one of those whales everywhere days. We left dock with no rumours, or even hints as to where to start. We soon got word of a humpback near Porlier Pass, and located it in Trincomali Channel, just south of the pass. This humpback was not exhibiting usual behaviour though. It was surfacing fast, and milling erratically, with just 1 breath per surface sequence and no long, lazy blow. Perhaps it knew what we were about to find out - transient orcas were in the Georgia Strait, and some were near. We headed out of the pass, and slightly south in Georgia Strait for an encounter with T20 and T21. These two individuals are sighted frequently in the area, and just continued on their way south, in typical transient fashion, during our encounter with them. Heading home across the strait, we encountered another 4 individuals - the T101's and T102. This group was also headed south in Georgia Strait. Watching them, we noted how tall T101A's fin is becoming, although still juvenile compared to T102 (see photo below). As we left them to head for dock at approximately 15:20, we heard that there were yet more transients in Active Pass. Seals, watch out!

Transient orcas T101A & T102 in Georgia Strait May 12, 2011

Photo by Joan Lopez, Vancouver Whale Watch

May 22, 2011
We met up with 7 northbound transient orcas in Trincomali Channel, at the south end of Wallace Island. Every orca encounter is magical, but the beautiful natural setting made this one even more memorable. Positive ID's were determined for T101,T101A, T102, T23, T23C and T23D. A very spunky calf that appeared to be about 1 year of age was swimming mostly with T23C, however, was also seen with T23 and with T102. The calf was showing off it's breaching, spyhopping and rolling skills. We even saw some spyhops from T102 or T101A - can't tell them apart from their headshots. As the group approached Porlier Pass, they hunted and ate at least two seals that they trapped along the steep walls of Galiano Island. The entire group then moved through Porlier Pass into Georgia Strait, and were last seen northbound along Valdez Island at approximately 1:45 pm. Our passengers had traded off watching a Canucks playoff hockey game for the trip and not one of them complained about missing the on-ice orcas win.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

May 25, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we headed up Boundary Pass toward East Pt. where transients had been spotted. The 1st group we encountered were 4 whales, which included T19B (I could see three other whales with him & am assuming his constant companions T18, T19 and T19C, but I didn't get pictures of them for proof of presence.) We left them and headed toward Alden Bank. Just north of Sucia Island we encountered a 2nd group: T124C, T124A, T124A2, T124A3 and T124A4. We continued on and encountered a 3rd group: T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T124, T124D, T124E, T124A1, T36, T36B,and T36B1. They changed direction and the 2nd group and the 3rd group joined up heading back in the direction of Pt. Roberts.
On our way home, traveling through Boundary Pass we encountered a 4th group: T137, T137A and T137B. A grand total of 28 killer whales.
Of course I'll be posting to my blog about this exciting day on the water.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

28 May, 2011
The T002C's and the T023's went West in Cormorant Channel on May 27th, then the T101's, T036's and T124's did the same yesterday!

T049C

2009-04-24T01:16:00.001-07:00

March 29, 2011
Mark Malleson photographed and reported Transient orcas T103 and T049C off of Victoria on March 29.

T103

2009-04-24T00:26:00.002-07:00

March 24, 2011
I spotted T103 and the T30's south of Constance Bank on March 24th. They spent the day foraging throughout the area. T103 was last seen heading south west near Race Rocks and the T30's were tracking back to the north east towards Victoria late afternoon.
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

March 29, 2011
Mark Malleson photographed and reported Transient orcas T103 and T049C off of Victoria on March 29

T002Cs

2009-04-23T22:51:00.003-07:00

T002C's near Darcy Island on March 16.
Mark Malleson, Victoria, B.C.

March 16, 2011 out with Capt. Brian on the Peregrine of Maya's Westside Charters for an afternoon trip at 1:00. No sooner do we leave the harbor than we hear a report of whales in Haro Strait.
Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research had spotted the whales. Transients, the T2Cs, 3 of them, were heading up the west side of Haro Strait. They were taking long dives and one time when 'they' surfaced they appeared to be 1 1/2 miles ahead with Kelp Reef marker in the background. However, when the T2Cs surfaced again they were only a short distance from us. We wondered if there were more whales.

Transient orcas, T2Cs off Darcy Island

March 16, 2011
Photo by Mark Malleson

May 27, 2011
The T002C's and the T023's went West in Cormorant Channel on May 27th

June 22, 2011
2 pm: The same three Transient Orca including T002C were found in Whale Pass by Rendezvous Island headed in a North-Easterly direction. A short time later they did a bit of zig zag and started Southward. Garry left them around 3:30 pm close to Hill Island in Sutil Channel with some other whale watching boats. These are the same whales that have been in and around the same general area over a number of weeks now. They appear and disappear every day or so probably into one of the many channels and inlets around and just above Desolation Sound.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
sent by Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins of BC, Powell River, BC

T036s

2009-04-09T01:02:00.012-07:00

T99,T36B1, and T36B
Photo by Dave Ellifrit

April 13, 2011
We had the (Transient orcas) T-137's, the T-65's, T-20, T-21, T36B's and others I can't remember. The boat left the dock a few hours after sighting the whales this morning, thinking we would probably wind up doing a wildlife tour because the whales were moving fast out of our range, which is what we told our guests, but sure enough Cameron and Natalie found some transients off Waldron (Island, San Juan Islands). To all of you on the north shore of Orcas, keep an eye peeled.
Deer Harbor Chaters, Orcas Island, WA

April 13, 2011
After receiving a report of Transients in San Juan Channel, Center for Whale Research staff Dave Ellifrit and Erin Heydenreich departed on vessel Starlet from Snug Harbor. The encounter began at 9:56 am mid San Juan Channel (48° 34.95 N; 123° 02.07 W) with the T137's,T49B's and T49A's traveling in a loose group. We later encountered the T65A's and T36A's traveling up San Juan Channel. We also encountered the T75B's and T75C which have not been previously encountered by the Center. The encounter ended in Boundary Pass off John's Island (48° 40.81 N; 123° 08.73 W) at 11:26 am. The whales spread out and were heading toward Saturna Island, B.C. In all we had 20 transients: T20, T21, T36A,T36A1,T49A,T49A1,T49A3,T49B,T49B1,T49B2,T75B,T75B1,T75C,T65A,T65A2,T65A3,T65A4,T137,T137A, And T137B.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

April 15, 2011
Graeme Ellis of Canada's Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans called in a report of his encounter with the large group of Transients in Sansum Narrows and Ladysmith Harbor, B.C. from April 15th. They had a total of about 31 orcas total, IDs include the T100s, T36s, T20 & T21, T124s, T65As T90s, T99s, T137s, T87s and T37s. They found them in Swanson Channel after we got the call from Tamar Griggs, then followed them down as they went into and back out of Ladysmith Island, and left them around 7 pm up by Yellow Pt.

April 17
Ken Balcomb and Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research arrived on scene just north of East Point (48° 47.08 N; 123° 02.51 W) at 12:15 p.m. The transients, who had been traveling north into the southern Strait of Georgia, had just turned around and came charging back out of the tide rip and began some intense milling around Rosenfeld Rock which had 30-40 Steller sea lions on it. There were thousands of Bonaparte's gulls working the tide rips. The whales briefly harassed one sea lion but apparently let it go. A couple whales continued to cruise around the rock while the rest of the whales on the calm side of the tide rip milled around the area in a social kind of way. There was another group of about 10 T's in the area but were on the rough side of the tide rip so we did not make it to them. We ended the encounter at 48° 47.23Np; 123° 02.37 W, around 1:30 p.m.as the whales turned north again into the sloppy waters of Georgia Strait. The whales photographed by CWR: T36, T36A, T36A1, T36B, T36B1, T37, T99, T99A, T99B, T99C, T124, T124D, T124E, T137, T137A, and T137B. Sixteen whales total.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

Transient orca T36A, in Georgia Strait April 17, 2011

Photo by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research

taken under DFO license #2006-08/SARA-34

19 April 2011,
4-19-11 on the Western Prince at about 1:30 pm we encountered many transient orcas attacking a Steller sea lion just south of Patos Island lighthouse. T36 (see photo,) and a couple juveniles were off, while others were in the fray just a few hundred yards to west.
The whales identified were members of the T36s, T99s, T65As, and T123s. The largest male, among all of these whales, was a sprouter T123A. It appeared to be a training session with groups taking turns attacking the sea lion. When we left the scene the Steller sea lion was still alive. About two miles away and approaching the general area of the whales and the sea lion, were more whales. Identified in this group were T101, T101A, T101B and T102.

T36 off Patos Island, April 19, 2011
Photo by Jeanne Hyde

April 23, 2011
A group of transient orcas was located at around noon today (4/23) in Georgia Strait, in the middle, west of Deltaport. The group consisted of the T36A's, T123's, and T137's. Initially, they were doing the typical transient travel - 5 minutes underwater, followed by about 5 breaths, and repeat. As the group traveled northwest, they came upon a California sea lion. The attack was immediate, with the females and even the juveniles getting in on the act. While the moms were doing all the work, T123A breached 3 times some distance away from the sea lion, then proceeded to perform tail waves. As it turned out, his anticipation of a warm lunch was not to be, as the sneaky sea lion managed to get away. The whales passed by the area where the sea lion had last been, but after a short time, they turned away and continued to the northwest. T123A and T137A were very chummy, swimming seperately from the mom & kids group, and doing alot of rolling around together. It was a perfect day on the water - almost flat calm, clear skies and the mountains of the North Shore and Howe Sound as a picturesque backdrop. Happy passengers, happy crew and one relieved sea lion.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

April 30, 2011
April 30, 2011 at 3:00 pm, on Maya's Westside Charters, we met up with several transient orcas north of the Coal Docks, heading northwest. Shortly into the encounter they slowed down, split and each group attacked prey. The group we watched attacked a harbor seal. Both groups seemed to move off at the same time, continuing to move northwest at a good speed. I identified T75B, T75B1, T75C, T36As, T65As and the T137s. I'll post pics on my blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

May 25, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we headed up Boundary Pass toward East Pt. where transients had been spotted. The 1st group we encountered were 4 whales, which included T19B (I could see three other whales with him & am assuming his constant companions T18, T19 and T19C, but I didn't get pictures of them for proof of presence.) We left them and headed toward Alden Bank. Just north of Sucia Island we encountered a 2nd group: T124C, T124A, T124A2, T124A3 and T124A4. We continued on and encountered a 3rd group: T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T124, T124D, T124E, T124A1, T36, T36B,and T36B1. They changed direction and the 2nd group and the 3rd group joined up heading back in the direction of Pt. Roberts.
On our way home, traveling through Boundary Pass we encountered a 4th group: T137, T137A and T137B. A grand total of 28 killer whales.
Of course I'll be posting to my blog about this exciting day on the water.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

May 28, 2011
The T002C's and the T023's went West in Cormorant Channel on May 27th, then the T101's, T036's and T124's did the same yesterday!

T137s

2009-04-09T00:57:00.012-07:00

6 April 2011
Distant calls audible.
The Transient's were last seen at Bauza Cove, SLOWLY heading west, at 1916. The current has turned to ebb, since then, but we are still hearing distant chatter on CP hydrophone.
Leah and Marie
06 Apr 2011 20:46:43 PDT

The transients from April 6th were IDed as: T018's, T137, T137A, T137B, and likely T036A. Thank you to Graeme Ellis from DFO Pacific Biological Station for assistance with the ID's.
Marie & Leah

April 13, 2011
We had the (Transient orcas) T-137's, the T-65's, T-20, T-21, T36B's and others I can't remember. The boat left the dock a few hours after sighting the whales this morning, thinking we would probably wind up doing a wildlife tour because the whales were moving fast out of our range, which is what we told our guests, but sure enough Cameron and Natalie found some transients off Waldron (Island, San Juan Islands). To all of you on the north shore of Orcas, keep an eye peeled.
Deer Harbor Chaters, Orcas Island, WA

April 13, 2011
After receiving a report of Transients in San Juan Channel, Center for Whale Research staff Dave Ellifrit and Erin Heydenreich departed on vessel Starlet from Snug Harbor. The encounter began at 9:56 am mid San Juan Channel (48° 34.95 N; 123° 02.07 W) with the T137's,T49B's and T49A's traveling in a loose group. We later encountered the T65A's and T36A's traveling up San Juan Channel. We also encountered the T75B's and T75C which have not been previously encountered by the Center. The encounter ended in Boundary Pass off John's Island (48° 40.81 N; 123° 08.73 W) at 11:26 am. The whales spread out and were heading toward Saturna Island, B.C. In all we had 20 transients: T20, T21, T36A,T36A1,T49A,T49A1,T49A3,T49B,T49B1,T49B2,T75B,T75B1,T75C,T65A,T65A2,T65A3,T65A4,T137,T137A, And T137B.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

April 17,2011
Ken Balcomb and Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research arrived on scene just north of East Point (48° 47.08 N; 123° 02.51 W) at 12:15 p.m. The transients, who had been traveling north into the southern Strait of Georgia, had just turned around and came charging back out of the tide rip and began some intense milling around Rosenfeld Rock which had 30-40 Steller sea lions on it. There were thousands of Bonaparte's gulls working the tide rips. The whales briefly harassed one sea lion but apparently let it go. A couple whales continued to cruise around the rock while the rest of the whales on the calm side of the tide rip milled around the area in a social kind of way. There was another group of about 10 T's in the area but were on the rough side of the tide rip so we did not make it to them. We ended the encounter at 48° 47.23Np; 123° 02.37 W, around 1:30 p.m.as the whales turned north again into the sloppy waters of Georgia Strait. The whales photographed by CWR: T36, T36A, T36A1, T36B, T36B1, T37, T99, T99A, T99B, T99C, T124, T124D, T124E, T137, T137A, and T137B. Sixteen whales total.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

April 23, 2011
A group of transient orcas was located at around noon today (4/23) in Georgia Strait, in the middle, west of Deltaport. The group consisted of the T36A's, T123's, and T137's. Initially, they were doing the typical transient travel - 5 minutes underwater, followed by about 5 breaths, and repeat. As the group traveled northwest, they came upon a California sea lion. The attack was immediate, with the females and even the juveniles getting in on the act. While the moms were doing all the work, T123A breached 3 times some distance away from the sea lion, then proceeded to perform tail waves. As it turned out, his anticipation of a warm lunch was not to be, as the sneaky sea lion managed to get away. The whales passed by the area where the sea lion had last been, but after a short time, they turned away and continued to the northwest. T123A and T137A were very chummy, swimming seperately from the mom & kids group, and doing alot of rolling around together. It was a perfect day on the water - almost flat calm, clear skies and the mountains of the North Shore and Howe Sound as a picturesque backdrop. Happy passengers, happy crew and one relieved sea lion.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

April 23, 2011
April 23rd we saw T123A again traveling with T137A along the Galiano Island shoreline (see phot below). They were very active with breaches, tail slaps and the classic belly to belly activity. There were a few other T's in the area too.
Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

Transients off Galiano Island, B.C. April 23, 2011

Photo by Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

April 30, 2011

April 30, 2011 at 3:00 pm, on Maya's Westside Charters, we met up with several transient orcas north of the Coal Docks, heading northwest. Shortly into the encounter they slowed down, split and each group attacked prey. The group we watched attacked a harbor seal. Both groups seemed to move off at the same time, continuing to move northwest at a good speed. I identified T75B, T75B1, T75C, T36As, T65As and the T137s. I'll post pics on my blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

April 30
So, we finish the month as we started, with transient orcas cruising the waters usually patrolled by the residents. Today, a group of 10-12 transients was located in Georgia Strait at approximately 12:30, about 3 nm north of Tumbo Island. They were traveling northwest, at a fairly fast rate of speed, sometimes porpoising. The group consisted of females, juveniles, calves and 1 sprouting male. We were able to identify some of them as the T65A group and the T137's, T137A being the sprouter. The orcas were traveling in two groups, with T137A and some juveniles lagging about 200 m/yards behind the moms, and engaging in a fair amount of social activity. At one point, the group stopped and was milling in one area for about 5 minutes, then continued on their speedy way. We left the whales still heading north to northwest, west of the Tsawassen feryy terminal.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

April 30, 2011
Finally found some Transients yesterday (April 30). They seemed to disappear for a few days but we found a group of about 15 yesterday including T37's, T65A and calves and T137A. They were in the middle of the Strait of Georgia and were heading for the coal docks. Here's a couple pics, one of the whales by the ferry terminal and another just past it. Cheers,
Gary Sutton,
Wild Whales Vancouver

May 12, 2011
5-12-2011 on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon, after receiving a call, we headed north and west to the north side of Galiano Island, B.C. where we encountered T20 and T21 heading east at 3:00. Farther east another boat came across T137, T137A and T137B. T137C was not present. Another boat was about 3 miles northwest of our location, returning to Vancouver, and came across several other whales. We did not see those whales and left the scene at 3:40. We made a return trip and at 5:35 encountered the same whales. However, this time many more whales approached from the west and joined the others. There was quite a lot of above water vocalizing and extraordinary surface action. The whales present included some of the same whales that were photographed at Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday. The whales ID'd on the late encounter were: T20, T21, T137, T137A, T137B, T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T18, T19, T19B, T19C, T23, T23D, T26 and T26A. There was a total of 22 whales identified and possibly one or two more. I'll post more about the encounter along with a video clip and pictures on myblog.
Jeanne Hyde , San Juan Island

May 25, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we headed up Boundary Pass toward East Pt. where transients had been spotted. The 1st group we encountered were 4 whales, which included T19B (I could see three other whales with him & am assuming his constant companions T18, T19 and T19C, but I didn't get pictures of them for proof of presence.) We left them and headed toward Alden Bank. Just north of Sucia Island we encountered a 2nd group: T124C, T124A, T124A2, T124A3 and T124A4. We continued on and encountered a 3rd group: T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T124, T124D, T124E, T124A1, T36, T36B,and T36B1. They changed direction and the 2nd group and the 3rd group joined up heading back in the direction of Pt. Roberts.
On our way home, traveling through Boundary Pass we encountered a 4th group: T137, T137A and T137B. A grand total of 28 killer whales.
Of course I'll be posting to my blog about this exciting day on the water.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

T018

2009-04-09T00:52:00.012-07:00

16 March 2011
We went to Spieden Channel and happened upon more transients traveling east. - T18, T19, T19B and T19C.
More of the interesting encounter with the Spieden Channel Ts and the Steller sea lions on my blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island, WA

6 April 2011
Distant calls audible.
The Transient's were last seen at Bauza Cove, SLOWLY heading west, at 1916. The current has turned to ebb, since then, but we are still hearing distant chatter on CP hydrophone.
Leah and Marie
06 Apr 2011 20:46:43 PDT

The transients from April 6th were IDed as: T018's, T137, T137A, T137B, and likely T036A. Thank you to Graeme Ellis from DFO Pacific Biological Station for assistance with the ID's.
Marie & Leah

May 12, 2011
5-12-2011 on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon, after receiving a call, we headed north and west to the north side of Galiano Island, B.C. where we encountered T20 and T21 heading east at 3:00. Farther east another boat came across T137, T137A and T137B. T137C was not present. Another boat was about 3 miles northwest of our location, returning to Vancouver, and came across several other whales. We did not see those whales and left the scene at 3:40. We made a return trip and at 5:35 encountered the same whales. However, this time many more whales approached from the west and joined the others. There was quite a lot of above water vocalizing and extraordinary surface action. The whales present included some of the same whales that were photographed at Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday. The whales ID'd on the late encounter were: T20, T21, T137, T137A, T137B, T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T18, T19, T19B, T19C, T23, T23D, T26 and T26A. There was a total of 22 whales identified and possibly one or two more. I'll post more about the encounter along with a video clip and pictures on myblog.
Jeanne Hyde , San Juan Island

May 22
Out with Aboriginal Journeys watching
Transient orcas T-018s, plus others. 5 animals total. 4 miles west of Savary Island in the Straight of Georgia.
Nick Templeman

May 22
All day long, the same group of Transient Orca which included T019B T018 and T023 were almost down to Powell River. Although I scanned during the day, not a blow, splash or dorsal was spotted off Powell River. The closest they got was around Grant's Reef, just South of Sentry Shoal. This morning the Whale Watching boats caught up with them just inside Discovery Channel by Cape Mudge. So they didn't go very far. They did take a couple of Sea Lions close to Mittlenatch Island.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC

May 25,2011
Well, as per our "norm" this year, we left the dock with vague rumors and muffled hints of perhaps maybe whales in the Salish Sea area. As we left the dock, we had a report of 5-6 orcas up near Gabriola Island, which was way too far for us. But we thought where there's one group, perhaps another one is lurking a bit closer. As we passed Flattop Island, we got another 2nd hand report of whales "somewhere between Active Pass and Pt. Roberts." Still a lot of area, but smaller than before. So we headed towards Eastpoint to view the Steller Sea Lions, and had just made the corner when out of nowhere----WHALES! I love it when our boat finds the whales that no one knows are around. Turns out we had stumbled upon T18 and T19, T19B, and T19C. As they passed offshore of Boiling Reef, T19B went into overdrive and started rooster-tailing a huge spray off his dorsal fin. Hunting!!!! 5-6 high speed zig zags and it was over, and the group had a nice little snack on a small harbor porpoise. After lunch, the whales seemed to be a bit more sedate and continued around the point and headed for Skipjack. We wondered why we were the only boat with this great group of whales, and then we heard on the VHF that a large group of approximately 20 Transients (I think the T100s and T102s were a part of that group) were quite aways behind us heading for Alden Bank. AND another group were up near the Bellchain Islands. At last count, this meant we had about 28 Transients in the Strait of Georgia! So much for vague rumors! It was an amazing day.
John Boyd (JB), Marine Naturalist, Western Prince, Friday Harbor, WA

May 25, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we headed up Boundary Pass toward East Pt. where transients had been spotted. The 1st group we encountered were 4 whales, which included T19B (I could see three other whales with him & am assuming his constant companions T18, T19 and T19C, but I didn't get pictures of them for proof of presence.) We left them and headed toward Alden Bank. Just north of Sucia Island we encountered a 2nd group: T124C, T124A, T124A2, T124A3 and T124A4. We continued on and encountered a 3rd group: T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T124, T124D, T124E, T124A1, T36, T36B,and T36B1. They changed direction and the 2nd group and the 3rd group joined up heading back in the direction of Pt. Roberts.
On our way home, traveling through Boundary Pass we encountered a 4th group: T137, T137A and T137B. A grand total of 28 killer whales.
Of course I'll be posting to my blog about this exciting day on the water.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

May 28 , 2011
After an hour of solid travel, several sea birds, numerous islands and a swimming harbor seal, we edged up to East point off Saturna Island. And there they were: a pod of transient orcas!
As we approached the area, we heard through the vessel radio grapevine that the pod may have made a recent Steller sea lion kill. When we got to the scene, the whales were zig-zagging and milling about; no obvious foraging activity was seen. While observing the pod, we noticed a very large adult male dorsal fin that had significant lean to the left and was very curved for a male. The other individuals in the pod appeared to be females and juveniles. Later, another vessel identified one of the orcas as T18.
After ten minutes or so, the pod started traveling faster towards the south, moving more erratically and then thrashing about. The hunt was on! And it looked like another Steller sea lion was the target. We saw the pod of four orcas thrashing about, throwing their bloody red tasty morsel in the air. At one point, it looked like the sea lion had gotten away and it made some headway with about forty feet of distance from the whales. But then the transients caught up to their meal and continued thrashing and tossing it around. Eventually, the male and a second orca split off from the other two, leaving the latter to contend with the sea lion. Time was running out for our whale watch and we began making our way back to Friday Harbor. All in all, quite an exciting day. Seeing transient orca whales feed is never a boring event, especially with the thrashing, breaching and tossing of a bleeding sea lion in the air!
Serena, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris, San Juan Island, WA

June 7, 2011
Got back to the dock after two trips today (6/7) and hear that four Orcas are at Lime Kiln. We all ran to the head and went back out in time to see the Transient Orcas T18 and the T19s, take a Dall's Porpoise off of Mitchell Pt., West Side, San Juan Island in Haro Strait (see photo below). Life and death in the San Juans! Amazing! 5:00 PM, June 7.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island, WA

Transient Orca with Dall's porpoise (dinner), San Juan Island, June 7, 2011
Photo by Jim Maya, Maya's West Side Charters

June 7

Ken Balcomb and Candice Smith of the Center for Whale Research encountered T18 and the T19's (see photo below) just off Smuggler's Cove on the west side of San Juan Island at 6:21 p.m. The whales were traveling in loose groups heading north. The encounter ended off Kellett Bluff at 6:39 p.m. with the whales still moving slowly north.

Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

Transient orcas T18 & T19B, Haro Strait June 7, 2011

Photo by Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

taken under MMPA permit #532-1822 and/or DFO license #2006-08/SARA-34

T123s

2009-04-01T23:51:00.006-07:00

31 March 2011
We just had a group of transients quietly head North in Blackney Pass!
Marie & Leah
31 Mar 2011 10:35:09 PST

The transients that went by the lab yesterday were T023, T023C, T023D T023C3, T068, T068A, T123, T123A, T123B. Thanks to DFO Pacific Biological Station for the ID's.
Marie & Leah
01 Apr 2011 18:42:50 PST

19 April 2011,
4-19-11 on the Western Prince at about 1:30 pm we encountered many transient orcas attacking a Steller sea lion just south of Patos Island lighthouse. T36 and a couple juveniles were off, while others were in the fray just a few hundred yards to west.
The whales identified were members of the T36s, T99s, T65As, and T123s. The largest male, among all of these whales, was a sprouter T123A. It appeared to be a training session with groups taking turns attacking the sea lion. When we left the scene the Steller sea lion was still alive. About two miles away and approaching the general area of the whales and the sea lion, were more whales. Identified in this group were T101, T101A, T101B and T102.

April 20, 2011
Transients everywhere today (4/20)!! We saw our first whales just north of Sand Heads in the Strait of Georgia. 4 whales, I was able to ID T123 and T123A who is sprouting now and his dorsal fin is getting huge! We left that group and started heading home when we saw splashing in the the distance and as we got closer we could see breaching, tail slaps, spy hops so we were convinced it was residents but as we approached, we realized after seeing T87 that it was a large, active group of T's! (between 12-15). T87 seemed to have the top of his dorsal fin either missing or flopped over, I couldn't really tell but here is a picture of him and another of sprouting T123A.
Cheers,
Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

T123A in Georgia Strait April 20, 2011
Photo by Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

April 23, 2011
A group of transient orcas was located at around noon today (4/23) in Georgia Strait, in the middle, west of Deltaport. The group consisted of the T36A's, T123's, and T137's. Initially, they were doing the typical transient travel - 5 minutes underwater, followed by about 5 breaths, and repeat. As the group traveled northwest, they came upon a California sea lion. The attack was immediate, with the females and even the juveniles getting in on the act. While the moms were doing all the work, T123A breached 3 times some distance away from the sea lion, then proceeded to perform tail waves. As it turned out, his anticipation of a warm lunch was not to be, as the sneaky sea lion managed to get away. The whales passed by the area where the sea lion had last been, but after a short time, they turned away and continued to the northwest. T123A and T137A were very chummy, swimming seperately from the mom & kids group, and doing alot of rolling around together. It was a perfect day on the water - almost flat calm, clear skies and the mountains of the North Shore and Howe Sound as a picturesque backdrop. Happy passengers, happy crew and one relieved sea lion.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

April 23, 2011
April 23rd we saw T123A again traveling with T137A along the Galiano Island shoreline (see phot below). They were very active with breaches, tail slaps and the classic belly to belly activity. There were a few other T's in the area too.
Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

Transients off Galiano Island, B.C. April 23, 2011

Photo by Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

June 20

Out with Aboriginal Journeys watching Transient orcas T-123/T-123A/T-123B off of Cape Mudge, Campbell River. Zig-zag foraging in the flat calm waters of the Salish Sea!
Nick Templeman

T068s

2009-04-01T23:48:00.003-07:00

31 March 2011
We just had a group of transients quietly head North in Blackney Pass!
Marie & Leah
31 Mar 2011 10:35:09 PST

1 April 2011
The transients that went by the lab yesterday were T023, T023C, T023D T023C3, T068, T068A, T123, T123A, T123B. Thanks to DFO Pacific Biological Station for the ID's.
Marie & Leah
01 Apr 2011 18:42:50 PST

May 1, 2011
Transient orca T051 was with T068C and T068C1 on May 1st west of Sheringham Pt. Lighthouse. They were originally spotted by Gotcha Fishing Charters and were tracking east off Jordan River (south Vancouver Island). When I found them they were south bound on a line for the U.S./Canada border.
I left them west bound mid strait south of Point no Point at 1615hrs.
Mark Malleson,
Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

June 11, 2011
T68's in Browning Passage and up Tofino Inlet last night (6/11) at 6pm.
Claire Mosley

June 12, 2011
~7:15 am: Transient orcas,T68's in Fortune Channel, Tofino for the 2nd day.
Claire Mosley

T023s

2009-04-01T23:43:00.006-07:00

31 March 2011

We just had a group of transients quietly head North in Blackney Pass!
Marie & Leah
31 Mar 2011 10:35:09 PST

The transients that went by the lab yesterday were T023, T023C, T023D T023C3, T068, T068A, T123, T123A, T123B. Thanks to DFO Pacific Biological Station for the ID's.
Marie & Leah
01 Apr 2011 18:42:50 PST

May 12, 2011
5-12-2011 on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon, after receiving a call, we headed north and west to the north side of Galiano Island, B.C. where we encountered T20 and T21 heading east at 3:00. Farther east another boat came across T137, T137A and T137B. T137C was not present. Another boat was about 3 miles northwest of our location, returning to Vancouver, and came across several other whales. We did not see those whales and left the scene at 3:40. We made a return trip and at 5:35 encountered the same whales. However, this time many more whales approached from the west and joined the others. There was quite a lot of above water vocalizing and extraordinary surface action. The whales present included some of the same whales that were photographed at Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday. The whales ID'd on the late encounter were: T20, T21, T137, T137A, T137B, T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T18, T19, T19B, T19C, T23, T23D, T26 and T26A. There was a total of 22 whales identified and possibly one or two more. I'll post more about the encounter along with a video clip and pictures on myblog.
Jeanne Hyde , San Juan Island

May 22, 2011
All day long, the same group of Transient Orca which included T019B T018 and T023 were almost down to Powell River. Although I scanned during the day, not a blow, splash or dorsal was spotted off Powell River. The closest they got was around Grant's Reef, just South of Sentry Shoal. This morning the Whale Watching boats caught up with them just inside Discovery Channel by Cape Mudge. So they didn't go very far. They did take a couple of Sea Lions close to Mittlenatch Island.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC

May 22, 2011
We met up with 7 northbound transient orcas in Trincomali Channel, at the south end of Wallace Island. Every orca encounter is magical, but the beautiful natural setting made this one even more memorable. Positive ID's were determined for T101,T101A, T102, T23 (see photo below), T23C and T23D. A very spunky calf that appeared to be about 1 year of age was swimming mostly with T23C, however, was also seen with T23 and with T102. The calf was showing off it's breaching, spyhopping and rolling skills. We even saw some spyhops from T102 or T101A - can't tell them apart from their headshots. As the group approached Porlier Pass, they hunted and ate at least two seals that they trapped along the steep walls of Galiano Island. The entire group then moved through Porlier Pass into Georgia Strait, and were last seen northbound along Valdez Island at approximately 1:45 pm. Our passengers had traded off watching a Canucks playoff hockey game for the trip and not one of them complained about missing the on-ice orcas win.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

Transient orca T23 and a calf, Trincomali Channel, BC, May 22, 2011

Photo by Joan Lopez, Vancouver Whale Watch

May 27, 2011
The T002C's and the T023's went West in Cormorant Channel on May 27th

T026s

2009-03-19T23:45:00.011-07:00

16 March 2011

Wow, what a great morning! We got a report of 5 transients headed East by Alert Bay at 0900 this morning. Then we spotted 5 transients, 1 male, 1 sprouter & 3 smaller fins, (most likely the same ones) heading South in Blackney. They went deep into Parson Bay, maybe having some lunch, when all of a sudden another group of 4 transients, 1male & 3 small fins, showed up mid-channel in Balckney also heading South!!! They are all out of view now still Southbound in a lose group. We have only heard one vocal so stay tuned there may be more?!!?
Marie & Leah
16 Mar 2011 10:58:58 PST

The T010's were definitely in the mix in the first group, stay tuned for other ID's...
Marie

The second group was the T55s! They had a brief meeting with a few individuals from the first group before they all headed east in Johnstone Strait, in their original groupings. They were last spotted from CP around 1220 abeam Robson Bight.
Leah

It appears that the 2 females with the T010's were T026 and T026A.
Marie

22 March 2011,
Helena & Paul have spotted 2 orca, 1 male & 1 female, heading West by Alert Bay right now!
Marie
22 Mar 2011 12:35:14 PST

Talked with the Mackays in Port McNeill. They are seeing the same transients nearing McNeill Bay. They see 3 which is the same count Declan got as they passed Alert bay heading wet. Bill and Donna think they may have just done a kill judging by all the birds around.
Helena & Paul
22 Mar 2011 13:58:57 PST

Jackie and Angela have spotted the transients, it is the T010's and T026's! They are now off Ledge Point heading West.
Marie & Leah
22 Mar 2011 14:50:48 PST

May 4, 2011
No calls but orcas nearby

The crew out at Salmon Coast field station spotted 5 Transient Orca in Fife Sound today! So, I guess where there are dolphins there are whales! Still hoping for them to come a little closer to the lab though ;)
Leah
04 May 2011 17:02:31 PDT

Just an update on yesterdays Orca in Fife. Based on photos of a few of the whales and the groups size it appears to be the T10s and T26s. These two groups were traveling together back on March 16th in front of the lab.
Leah
05 May 2011 05:19:29 PDT

08 May 2011

No calls but orcas nearby

The T10s and T26s just headed North in Blackney Pass! The were rolling, tail slapping, doing head stands and rubbing each other as they quietly traveled by. They must have been chomping down on some prey as the seagulls hovered above them during their entire time through the Pass.Leah
08 May 2011 12:41:28 PDT

Superb sounds!!

They have become quite vocal on Flower with lots of whistles!Leah
08 May 2011 12:51:20 PDT

The Transient calls continued, intermittently, until 1404. They were last spotted in the middle of Blackfish Sound heading towards Stubbs Island at approximately 1324. Leah
08 May 2011 18:55:00 PDT

May 12, 2011
5-12-2011 on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon, after receiving a call, we headed north and west to the north side of Galiano Island, B.C. where we encountered T20 and T21 heading east at 3:00. Farther east another boat came across T137, T137A and T137B. T137C was not present. Another boat was about 3 miles northwest of our location, returning to Vancouver, and came across several other whales. We did not see those whales and left the scene at 3:40. We made a return trip and at 5:35 encountered the same whales. However, this time many more whales approached from the west and joined the others. There was quite a lot of above water vocalizing and extraordinary surface action. The whales present included some of the same whales that were photographed at Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday. The whales ID'd on the late encounter were: T20, T21, T137, T137A, T137B, T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T18, T19, T19B, T19C, T23, T23D, T26 and T26A. There was a total of 22 whales identified and possibly one or two more. I'll post more about the encounter along with a video clip and pictures on myblog.
Jeanne Hyde , San Juan Island

May 22, 2011
On the late afternoon trip on Maya's Westside Charters we encountered T10, T10B, T10C, T26 and T26A as they traveled south in Haro Strait. We left them west of Kelp Reef traveling southwest. I'll post pictures on my blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island, WA

May 26
We spent a great day on the water yesterday (5/26) with Island Adventures, and saw a group of Transients up near Chatham Island. We were told they were T26, T26A, T10, T10B and T10C. They appeared to be feeding close to shore for a bit...going in circles and splashing, with lots of tail flaps and a spy hop....fantastic! Then they headed up North toward Haro Strait.
Cheers,
Sue & Marty McDaniel, The Blue Goose Inn, Coupeville, WA

May 26
Dave Ellifrit, Erin Heydenreich, Mercedes Powell, and Kira Kranzler of the Center for Whale Research departed Snug Harbor at 3:30 p.m., with reports of transients heading north near Kelp Reef. We encountered the group of five transients traveling north at 3:44 pm, about 1.5 miles north of Kelp Reef (48° 31.45 N; 123° 13.33 W). The whales consisted of T26, T26A, T10, T10B and T10C.
We followed the whales for several hours while they slowly traveled north up Haro Strait. During most of their travel they were very spread out. At 6:55 p.m. we ended our encounter , and began our trip back to Snug Harbor, only to be called back to the scene a few minutes later because the transients were hunting a porpoise. We arrived back at the scene just as the hunt was concluded, with the whales appearing to have made a successful kill. We departed for a second time at 7:20 p.m., leaving the whales milling around their suspected kill, three quarters of a mile east of Morseby Island (48° 42.80 N; 123° 16.02 W).
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

June 16, 2011
A group of 5 Transient orcas were located heading west, just north of Portland Island. The group has been id'ed as T10, T10B, T10C, T26, and T26A. Shortly after we arrived at about 1230, the group changed direction - a seal hunt was on. They took one seal, then logged on the surface for a short time before resuming the hunt for a second seal. The second seal was still alive when we left at approximately 13:30. Photo below of T26A with an impressive show of power and spray.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

Transient T26A hunting a seal, June 16, 2011, Portland Island
Photo by Joan Lopez, Vancouver Whale Watch

June 16
Did see Transients this morning just below Sidney. T10's and T26's.
Went out with Mark Malleson (Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.).
Peter Pijpelink, the Netherlands

June 17
Canadian Salish Sea waters today, by Sydney and the D'Arcy Islands! Another group of 4 Transient Killer Whales using the strong flooding tide, heading north, at about 1:45pm. They were swimming slowly in a fairly tight group, taking long dives, and like the ones yesterday, I wonder if they were resting a bit, letting that tide move them along? We indentified T-10 with her son T-10A, and youngster T-10C. We also identified T-26, but I did not see her 21 year old T-26A, who was sighted the day before with this group. The Center for Whale Research was out there, hopefully got photos to verify the group. As we left at 2:30pm we noticed Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoise in Spieden and San Juan Channels, while not a one by Sydney or in Haro Strait- they must have got the word about the Transients!
Caroline Armon, Odyssey, San Juan Excursions, San Juan Island, WA

19 juni 2011
It turns out that there were two groups of transients travelling up the strait. Unfortunately they decided to remain quiet while in range of the hydrophones. Marie and company were able to identify them as the T10s and T26s as well as T18 and the T19s.
Elizabeth
19 Jun 2011 18:08:21 PDT

T124s

2009-02-26T05:58:00.007-08:00

January 23, 2011
WOW, what a great morning!!! The transients were vocal on Flower for 3 hours! Then they headed South in Blackney Passage past the lab. They were moving pretty fast but our count was at least 17 orca! They went into Johnstone Strait and headed East and we heard a few faint calls. They are now at Boat Bay island still continuing East, thanks to Jim Borrowman for the update.
Marie & Leah
23 Jan 2011 11:06:04 PST

The transients that came South by the lab on January 23rd were T071's, T086A's, T087, T088, T090's, T124's. Thanks to Jared & Jim for the update!

March 22,
On March 22, Mark Mallseon of Victoria, B.C. had Transient orcas T87, T88, T90's, T30's and T124's, about 12 in all, from Trial Island about 11 am, traveling east to Middle Bank, still headed toward Salmon Bank. He left them at 3:15 pm.

April , 2011
Transient orcas at the south end of Saltspring Island (many thanks to Neptune for locating the group and whale sitting until we arrived!) The group first appeared to be heading southeast, but what followed was only the first of many direction changes that we witnessed during our encounter. The travel pattern would have been best described as a series of large circles. At least one, if not several, seals lost out to these top ocean predators. We could see oil slicks on the water, and the gulls plus one bald eagle joined in for scraps. Following the meal there was some play time, and we were fortunate to see some spyhops, tail stands and even hear some of those eerily, amazing transient vocals. The whales that I could ID in the group were T100, T100B, T100C,T100E, T90, T90B and possibly newish calf with T90, T124, T124D and T124E. T100 B appeared to be calf-sitting T100E for mom, while T100 worked on getting lunch. T90 appears to have a tag, very visible on her left side dorsal fin, and showing as a dark bump on her right side dorsal - photo attached (photo taken with 300 zoom lense and cropped to show detail).
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

April 15, 2011
Graeme Ellis of Canada's Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans called in a report of his encounter with the large group of Transients in Sansum Narrows and Ladysmith Harbor, B.C. from April 15th. They had a total of about 31 orcas total, IDs include the T100s, T36s, T20 & T21, T124s, T65As T90s, T99s, T137s, T87s and T37s. They found them in Swanson Channel after we got the call from Tamar Griggs, then followed them down as they went into and back out of Ladysmith Island, and left them around 7 pm up by Yellow Pt.

April 17, 2011
Ken Balcomb and Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research arrived on scene just north of East Point (48° 47.08 N; 123° 02.51 W) at 12:15 p.m. The transients, who had been traveling north into the southern Strait of Georgia, had just turned around and came charging back out of the tide rip and began some intense milling around Rosenfeld Rock which had 30-40 Steller sea lions on it. There were thousands of Bonaparte's gulls working the tide rips. The whales briefly harassed one sea lion but apparently let it go. A couple whales continued to cruise around the rock while the rest of the whales on the calm side of the tide rip milled around the area in a social kind of way. There was another group of about 10 T's in the area but were on the rough side of the tide rip so we did not make it to them. We ended the encounter at 48° 47.23Np; 123° 02.37 W, around 1:30 p.m.as the whales turned north again into the sloppy waters of Georgia Strait. The whales photographed by CWR: T36, T36A, T36A1, T36B, T36B1, T37, T99, T99A, T99B, T99C, T124, T124D, T124E, T137, T137A, and T137B. Sixteen whales total.
Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island, WA

May 25, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we headed up Boundary Pass toward East Pt. where transients had been spotted. The 1st group we encountered were 4 whales, which included T19B (I could see three other whales with him & am assuming his constant companions T18, T19 and T19C, but I didn't get pictures of them for proof of presence.) We left them and headed toward Alden Bank. Just north of Sucia Island we encountered a 2nd group: T124C, T124A, T124A2, T124A3 and T124A4. We continued on and encountered a 3rd group: T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T124, T124D, T124E, T124A1, T36, T36B,and T36B1. They changed direction and the 2nd group and the 3rd group joined up heading back in the direction of Pt. Roberts.
On our way home, traveling through Boundary Pass we encountered a 4th group: T137, T137A and T137B. A grand total of 28 killer whales.
Of course I'll be posting to my blog about this exciting day on the water.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island

May 28, 2011
The T002C's and the T023's went West in Cormorant Channel on May 27th, then the T101's, T036's and T124's did the same yesterday!

May 29, 2011
A group of 5 transient orca were located at approximately noon on the east side of Galiano Island, heading northwest. The group was later ID'ed as the T124A group and T124C. There appeared to be a calf that was approximately 1- 2 years of age (see photo, right). They were in a steady travel mode during our encounter, with some social interaction observed between the two youngest as they travelled.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

T090s

2009-02-26T05:56:00.014-08:00

Transient orcas T87 and T90B off San Juan Island, May 9, 2011

Photo by Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island, WA

May 9, 2011

Dave Ellifrit, Erin Heydenreich, Mercedes Powell, and Kira Kranzler from the Center for Whale Research observed a group of transients heading north from Bellevue point. We departed Snug Harbor at 12:17pm and encountered the group of transients, containing T87, T90, T90B and T90C, just outside of Mitchell Bay at 12:27 p.m. (48° 32.60 N, 123° 10.53 W), still moving slowly north (see photo below). At 1:21pm we observed a harbor seal in the whales path. Shortly thereafter the whales were milling where the seal had been, presumably having made a kill, although we were unable to see any physical evidence. The transients continued to move slowly north until 2:19pm, when they turned and headed south west. At 2:50pm our encounter ended approximately three quarters of a mile south east of Kelp Reef, with the whales moving south west down the middle of the Straight (48° 31.85 N, 123° 12.81 W).

Transient orcas T87 with T90B in Haro Strait May 9, 2011

Photo by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research

taken under MMPA permit #532-1822

May 31, 2011

Wildlife galore today! We departed Friday Harbor with a northbound heading up into the waters of Canada, with a few gray harbor porpoises traveling with us and a silver harbor seal peering at us from the ocean. Off in the distance, we spotted five vessels off Saltspring Island, Canada. They appeared to be observing some transient killer whales. As our boat--the Sea Lion--got closer, we were able to identify a large male orca with a hooked or oddly notched dorsal fin. He was later identified as T87. Other vessels identified his companions as "the T90s," which would be T90 and a calf from 2005, T90B. We did notice a calf with the group of five and thought that because of its small size it may be a calf younger than T90B.
The pod continued to zigzag around the boats and, at times, under the boats appearing on the other side of us after four to five minute down times.
Serena, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris, San Juan Island, WA

May 3, 2011
The Transients showed up again at the north end of Haro Strait yesterday May 31st. They were traveling south when we were with them at 2pm. We had T 87 with his distinct notch out of the trailing edge of his dorsal fin and a sweet little baby T 090C (picture heavily cropped to show notch of T 87 and the young Orca.) Always awesome to watch these wonderful marine mammals.
Marie 'Orca-Magic', Prince of Whales, Victoria B.C.

Transient orca T87 and T90C, Haro Strait, May 31, 2011
Photo by Marie O'Shaughnessy, Prince of Whales, Victoria, B.C.

May 31,2011
Following up on a sighting of 1 whale in Active Pass, we located 5 transient orcas southbound in Swanson Channel at approximately 1230 today (5/31). The group was ID'ed as T87, T124A1, and the 3 T90's (see photo below). The group was traveling slowly, against the inbound tide, and were possibly resting. We left them at 1330, still traveling generally south.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch

Transient orcas T87, T124A1, and T90s, Swanson Channel, May 31, 2011
Photo by Joan Lopez, Vancouver Whale Watch

June 1, 2011
Transient orcas T87, T90s, and T124A1s today, 6/1, near Race Rocks, BC. between 2:30 and 3:30. They were having a great time! They usually don't act like residents, but they were yesterday. We spent an hour watching them move into the 6 kt. flood tide and they didn't move.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island, WA

Transient orca breaching off Race Rocks, B.C., June 1, 2011
Photo by Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Isl. WA

T088

2009-02-26T05:54:00.003-08:00

Transient orca and calf in Swanson Channel May 26, 2011

Photo by Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

Transient orcas in Swanson Channel, B.C. May 26, 2011
Photo by Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

May 30, 2011
Glassy calm, south Haro Strait at 1400-1500hours, 1 mile SE of Seabird/Discovery Island, Transient orcas T87 and T 88 meandering at 4knots. He has a new scar line on his right side near top of fin where the cut out is ; still pink and ragged.
Deb Martyn,naturalist for Orcas Eclipse Charter/Orcas Express