Orca Network recommends:
The Lost Whale, by Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisolm
An intensely personal story...but this person is a young orca.
To learn more about orcas:
Orcas in Our Midst,
Vol. 3: Residents and Transients, How Did That Happen?
Click here
to order YOUR copy!
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The bestseller about orcas in captivity.
Death at SeaWorld, by David Kirby
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Click here
to learn about L pod
orca Lolita/Tokitae,
captured in Penn Cove,
Whidbey Island, WA
in 1970, somehow surviving in a small tank at the Miami Seaquarium ever since.
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Sign up for our
Whale Sighting
or Free Lolita
Email Lists
Click Here to Join |
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| November 2, 2014
We are watching and visiting the whales in their home~
Please observe, love and respect them from a distance.
Having trouble viewing this Sightings Report? Archived Reports can be found HERE.
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Not much Southern Resident activity to tell you about this time, only a couple of brief but tantalizing reports of J pod in Georgia Strait yesterday. Transients/Bigg's whales have been in the Strait of Juan de Fuca lately, from Whidbey Island to west of Victoria.
Humpbacks have been more evident around the San Juans and beyond, in large numbers and apparently finding plenty of food.
Our guest marine mammal is a Dall's porpoise as the Photo of the Day, because it is such a beautiful porpoise, so clearly defined. Although Dall's porpoise are becoming a rare sight in recent years, harbor porpoise, the other porpoise of the Salish Sea, are on the increase.
Please enjoy this enchanting 1-minute PSA from the Orca Awareness Project, who write: "As a team we are trying to bring awareness and support to the efforts of releasing and or retiring captive orcas."
The 'LOLITA'S GIFT' HOLIDAY AUCTION is now open. Dedicated to Lolita and her family through education via Orca Network's documentary, Fragile Waters, the auction runs from October 14 to November 7, with proceeds going to Orca Network to support distribution of the film Fragile Waters, which will debut at the Friday Harbor Film Festival November 7, 8, and 9. Auction items include 2 autographed guitars by Rick Springfield and Heart, as well as A Day With Lori Marino, Steve Huxter and Robbyne Kaamil, exotic vacation getaways, art and jewelry. Let the bidding begin! Please contact Veronica Wolski via telephone 773 993 0499, or e-mail causejoy@hotmail.com, should you have any questions.
For the record: In the last sightings report we relayed a message from Jeanne Hyde of humpback songs recorded off Lime Kiln. Shortly after sending the report we received this from Jeanne: a quick correction: I was told by Alaska researchers that those sounds were feeding sounds. When comparing these spectrogram images to the recording a year ago, there were some of these sounds then, and that's what I had remembered. However, last year there were also long sounds. Those had been verified last year as songs.
Jeanne
Howard Garrett and Susan Berta, Orca Network
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Photo of the Day
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November 1 | |
Dall's Porpoise. These beautiful creatures were once a common sight in the Salish Sea, but now there quite the rarity. As a bycatch of Japanese fisheries, their population has been severely cut. It's nice to see them lately.
Photo by Heather McIntyre, Nature's Keeper Photography
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Southern Residents
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November 1
Susan MacKay saw JPod Killer Whales heading South mid Georgia Strait passing Little River/Powell River ferry line today.
October 26
Illuminated exhalations of the Southern Resident killer whales as they begin to form into resting lines after porpoising for hours northbound up Puget Sound. Filmed from shore in the Richmond Beach neighborhood of Shoreline, Washington.
Alisa Lemire Brooks
 | SRKWs Puget Sound.
Video by Alisa Lemire Brooks
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October 26
 | This was from the Bremerton-Seattle ferry about 11:45 a.m. Sunday.
Photo by Patrick Kerber |
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Transients/Bigg's Whales
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November 2
We found half a dozen transient killer whales on nearby Constance Bank!Prince of Whales November 2
Orcas off Ft. Ebey/Pt. Partridge, Whidbey Island, 7:30 am this morning. Caller Chris Marin was surfing there and saw about 8 orcas less than a mile from shore, milling and taillobing. The whales moved slowly NW, toward San Juan Island. November 1
 | The California Transients from Saturday. I think this is CA166 and CA173.
Photo by Selena Rhodes Scofield |
November 1
 | | Photo by Selena Rhodes Scofield |
November 1 | |
Photo by Selena Rhodes Scofield
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November 1
 | CA166 in the Strait of Juan de Fuca off Port Angeles, WA.
Photo by James Gresham
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November 1
 | A female swimming with CA166. The Cali T's were changing directions constantly. CA166 and the female with him were eastbound when we picked them up. Then they reversed and headed west. The others were heading southeast towards Sequim then reversed and had headed towards Victoria when we left them.
Photo by James Gresham
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November 1
 | | Photo by James Gresham |
November 1
November 1
 | CA172 with calf.
Photo by James Gresham |
November 1
 | | Photo by James Gresham |
November 1
 | | Photo by James Gresham |
November 1
Some California Killer Whales were identified near southern Vancouver Island, including CA166, CA172, and CA173 - by James Gresham. CA166 was first sighted in Monterey Bay in 1997. These three whales (and their associates) have been sighted off of southern Vancouver Island for the past four years in October: so very interesting!
Alisa Schulman-Janiger
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Humpback whales
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November 2
10:12 am - Two Humpbacks off Lime Kiln!
Simon Pidcock
November 1
 | Humpback whale rostrum. All of those bumps house tiny little hair follicles. They are mammals and are therefore, born with hair.
Photo by Heather McIntyre, Nature's Keeper Photography
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Twelve foot long Humpback whale pectoral flipper. The Humpback Whale's Latin name, Megaptera Novaeangliae meas "big wing of New England". This name is in reference to the humpback's long flippers (and also because their common in the waters of New England as well).
Photo by Heather McIntyre, Nature's Keeper Photography |
November 1
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Humpback cow/calf pair with a vivid, rainbow colored exhalation plume. Sometimes referred to as a "rainblow".
Photo by James Gresham |
November 1
1:21pm - Just saw a large whale off/around Pt Defiance, from our boat. Not an orca.
Holly Bukes
October 31
We did a wide sweep south and west and eventually caught up with a group of three humpback whales off of Becher Bay (ten miles SW of Victoria). Three is pretty much the largest group we see humpbacks traveling in. So I immediately thought that it might be the same trio. Upon closer inspection we concluded that two of the humpbacks were the same, but they had a new buddy! Again, this is pretty typical of humpbacks; they're not social, and they don't form long-lived bonds.
Jennifer Dickson, Prince of Whales
October 30
We found humpbacks! Three of them! Now, that might not sound like a lot, but remember, humpbacks are not social whales. They don't travel in pods (that's a dolphin thing). They congregate in large numbers around their breeding grounds and in their feeding grounds, but that doesn't make them social. They don't travel with the same individuals for long periods; mothers and calves are rarely seen together after they're weaned! There were two big ones and one small one, so it was likely a mother and calf pair, and another one, apparently just hanging out. These guys appeared to be actively feeding as there were massive bait balls ALL OVER THE PLACE. Gulls and Common murres just going crazy over schools of bait fish, and humpbacks going right through the middle of it all. Quite the sight.
Jennifer Dickson, Prince of Whales
October 29
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On my likely the last working day on the Western Prince(for the season), we were treated to amazing weather, Pacific White-sided Dolphins, and 3 Humpbacks that breached just as we started to pull away. Just amazing today!
Photo by Traci Walter Photography |
October 27
 | Humpback near Race Rocks.
Photo by Mark Malleson
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Pacific white-sided dolphins
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October 31
As we were returning to the harbour we were paralleling the Coho ferry (Victoria to Port Angeles) when we spotted Pacific white-sided dolphins riding her bow!
Jennifer Dickson, Prince of Whales
October 29
10 am - Lags outside of Friday Harbor!! In San Juan channel staying put currently playing with us. There's prob 100 of them spread out. Looks like they're slowly heading north.
Heather MacIntyre
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ABOUT ORCA NETWORK
Orca Network is a 501 c3 nonprofit organization, dedicated to raising awareness about the whales of the Pacific Northwest, and the importance of providing them healthy and safe habitats.
Orca Network's Whale Sighting Network involves citizens in helping researchers track the movement of whales, and encourages people to observe whales from their homes, businesses, ferries, and beaches.
Whale reports are sent in to our Sighting Network and emailed out to researchers, agencies, and citizens on our network, and posted on our website (MAP of sightings also on website). Whale reports and observations are sent in by a variety of sources, and Orca Network does not guarantee the accuracy of any report or whale identification.
TO REPORT WHALES, CALL: 1-866-ORCANET (1-866-672-2638), email info@orcanetwork.org, or post sightings on our Orca Network Facebook page.
*BE WHALE WISE! BOATERS - NEW FEDERAL REGULATIONS IN EFFECT AS OF MAY 16, 2011:
"The new rules prohibit vessels from approaching any killer whale closer than 200 yards and forbid vessels from intercepting a whale or positioning the vessel in its path. This doubles the current approach distance of 100 yards. The rules go into effect May 16 and apply to all types of boats, including motor boats, sail boats and kayaks, in Washington"
For more information on the new Federal Regulations, visit the NOAA Fisheries website.
To report harassment of whales in US waters, call NOAA Enforcement: 1-800-853-1964;
In Canadian waters, call DFO's Observe Record and Report (ORR) Violations Hotline: 1-800- 465-4336
Report the boat name &/or a description of the boat, & get photos if at all possible.
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