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
