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!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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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| December 24, 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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Orcas abounding today, in three locations, but not in south Puget Sound where we've had consistent reports for over a month now, until today. This morning began with two reports from the ferry Elwha of orcas in Upright Channel in the San Juan Islands, heading north around Shaw Island. Then came a report from Penn Cove of three orcas heading into Saratoga Passage (last seen off Greenbank this afternoon). Later came a report of two orcas off Pender Island, in the Canadian Gulf Islands. It turned out the orcas seen from the ferry were most of J pod (without the J16s). Ken Balcomb and Melisa Pinnow were with them as far as Turn Point, Stuart Island, as they continued northward. The others were not identified, but from the numbers are believed to be Transients/Bigg's whales. In the past few weeks in south Puget Sound, Transient orcas have approached boats and seemed to be curious to see who's on board. A good example was this from December 18th: Man has very close encounter with orcas off Anderson Island as seen on KOMO TV. Another exciting moment was this one from a facebook link: Orcas off the west side of Anderson Island. Keep in mind that orcas' best stereoscopic vision is ventrally, that is downward, so when they are upside down, it's upward, which is why they turn upside down to see who's on the boat. Wishing everyone a great Christmas Eve and a fine holiday, and happy travels and full bellies to the orcas in our midst. Ways of Whales 2015 will again be at the Coupeville Middle School Performing Arts Center, 501 South Main Street Coupeville WA 98239 (same place as last year). Registration opening soon.
Howard Garrett and Susan Berta, Orca Network
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Photo of the Day
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December 12
 | A close approach by a Transient/Bigg's whale near Nisqually Reach. Engine was off luckily.
Photo by Travis Harris |
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Southern Residents
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December 24
12:25 - Ken Balcomb is with J pod, minus the J16s. They are milling now off Jones Island.
1:15 - members of J pod heading NW toward Speiden Island.
December 24
9:20am - Whales from ferry. Heading west from north end of Upright Channel towards Orcas Landing. 2-3 small groups spread across channel. Lots of surface activity.
Doug McCutchen
December 24
Graham Dewitt on the ferry Elwha called at 9:15 to report 6-12 orcas in Upright Channel, between Lopez and Shaw Islands, heading west into Harney Channel, between Shaw and Orcas Islands.
2:38 - Ken Balcomb relayed a report that K pod was seen heading west about 4 mi south of Constance Bank (south of Victoria).
December 22Encountered K pod way out between Port Angeles and Race Rocks today!! Saw the K12's, K14's, and K22's. No sign of the K13's, K16's, or K21, but they could have been there. The orcas were very spread out and generally headed West.
Melisa Pinnow December 22
 | Kelp K42 with his eye open.
Photo by Melisa Pinnow
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December 22
 | Sprouter male Tika K33.
Photo by Melisa Pinnow
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**************************** The orcas in the December 21 reports were not identified.
December 21
9:46 - Maia of WA State Ferries relayed a report of 12+ orcas between Port Townsend and Keystone crossing the ferry lane heading north. December 21
9:20 - The Clipper reports orcas off Lagoon Point, milling and foraging. Howard Garrett December 21
Victoria Clipper II reports a large group of orcas heading north from Bush Point at 8:30 am. Stephanie Raymond ***************************** December 20
It was a very interesting audio encounter last night. Port Townsend HPs and repetitive call. It began at least at 5:30pm and possibly before - a repetitive call. The repetitive call came in 'groups' - several, spaced out, and then nothing and then repeated again. The repetitive call and then finally distant J pod calls - which were less often - continued for hours. At one point I thought I might have heard a K Pod call or two but I couldn't be sure. The rest I believe were J Pod. But who knows who the 'caller' was and what, if any, significance did that call have. At 9:14pm the last sequence of repetitive calls occurred. After that there were more J pod calls in the distance and the loudest, though still not loud, J Pod calls came at 10:52pm. There were just a couple. I didn't hear anything after that. I posted clips of the repetitive call to my blog. Jeanne Hyde Blog: Whale of A PurposeDecember 20
21:24 - hearing Ks!Alisa Lemire Brooks December 20
9:23 - Faint but I hear them too! Michelle Goll December 20
Still hearing them at 9:15. Nicole Stanley December 20
7:30 - YAY. I just heard "them", too. Kim Merriman December 20
7:02 - Definitely some Js.Pam Ren December 20
Hearing them now at 7:00. Faint but clear. Kippi Waters December 20
10:25 pm - four hours after first hearing them, STILL hearing them in between ship and water noise. Hope they keep moving this slow, and show up off Bush Pt. tomorrow morning : ) 8:45 pm - hearing calls again on the Port Townsend hydrophone! 6:25pm - pretty sure I'm hearing calls on the Port Townsend hydrophone. Susan Berta
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| Transients/Bigg's Killer Whales |
December 24
3:54pm - Just saw a pod of 3-4 heading north off of Saratoga Passage near Greenbank. Stunning. You could hear their breath as they surfaced just off of our deck. So awesome!! Marie Gill
December 24
3:15 PM - Orca sighting in the Saratoga Passage. 2 possibly 3 adults and one baby, one very large back fin, spotted at Hidden Beach in the Saratoga Passage. Heading north.
Mary Horton
December 24
11:45 - My cousin in Canada just texted me they saw 2 orcas from the BC ferry between Pender and Saltspring Island. No idea if they were residents or transients.
Jeanette Dorner
December 24
10:20 AM - orcas in Penn Cove, a pod (sorry, don't know how to identify!) at about 10:20 this morning, leisurely traveling northwest around Blower's bluff and out to the strait. Gorgeous!
Trace Farrell
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December 22
3:20 - They're heading past Anderson Island. East side. South of McNeil.
2:45 - Message to me from Bob on Anderson Island. "Whales I sighted heading South just north of the Riviera Marina on the East side of Anderson Island - A small boat with an outboard and a dog are following the Whales."
Kim Merriman
December 22
2:20pm - Just spotted a group of at least four orcas south of McNeil Island. They were headed east while the Pierce Co. Ferry sailed west.
Ann Dasch
December 22
1:52pm - Transients currently on North side of Mcneil Island. Could be seen from Chambers Bay with binos maybe.
Travis Harris
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December 21
12:17 - At least 5 orcas in Rich Passage just now. Heading south between Fort Ward Park on Bainbridge and Manchester State Park on the Kitsap.
Lisa Carry
December 21
11:58am - Orcas in Sinclair Inlet heading back towards Seattle
Joshua Goss
December 21
0925 - Dyes inlet, at least 4 orca whales, two are very small.
Cathi Hunter
December 21
 | There were 5 or 6 orcas in Dyes Inlet around 9am!
Photo by Nikki Ogden |
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December 19
Man has very close encounter with orcas off Anderson Island
Amazing video from William Chapman.
He had a close encounter with an orca pod Thursdsay afternoon near Anderson Island.
December 19
Orcas in Tacoma Narrows. 9 orcas seen by our group doing a Christmas bird count. Seen just south of Tacoma narrows bridge. One group of 5 and one group of 4. Breaching and playing. One tiny one with them. Then diving for long periods then swimming in formation.
Michael Charest
KIRO TV: Citizens For A Healthy Bay Patrol encountered an Orca pod in the Puget Sound over the weekend.
December 19
 | T136B and her calf south of Tacoma Narrows.
Up...
Photo by Michael Charest
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December 19
 | | Photo by Michael Charest |
December 19
 | | Photo by Michael Charest |
December 19
 | | Photo by Michael Charest |
December 19
As of about 2:00, they had left the Budd/Eld inlet area. They headed northwest out toward Hunter Point and Steamboat Island. Maybe headed to Totten Inlet????
Kim Merriman
December 19
We saw about 6 of them from Boston Harbor at about 1:45, they were moving pretty fast towards the Nisqually Reach.
Micki Pacific
December 19
1:38 - They are headed to Boston harbor marina area now.
1:22 - Watching from Burfoot, they are on the Cooper point side.
Devin Ganwich
December 19
1:40 - They are heading toward Boston Harbor now.
1:35 - They are north of Burfoot now, still traveling north.
1:11 - They are almost even with Burfoot now, still moving north on west side of Budd.
12:58 - Seeing blows south of Burfoot, on the west side of Budd Inlet. They are heading north, at the moment.
Gayle Swigart
December 19
I was out there sailing in good strong wind around 1:15 pm and saw four (?) on the Cooper point side heading north. A tugboat with barge came into the inlet and they seemed to take off out Dana Passage. If anybody got pictures with a sailboat hauling ass in the background, it was me. Thrilling!
Sky Myers
December 19
11:13am - Just spotted some Orcas in front of Gull Harbor (in Budd Inlet). Too far away to tell how many or in what direction they are headed.
Caty Whiteford
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Orcas at Anderson!
WARNING: inappropriate words are used (the s-word) we are sorry but we were scared.
My buddies and I were crabbing off of the west coast of Anderson Island and even though we didn't really catch anything, we got to see the pod of orcas everyone has been talking about! We were in a little aluminum rowboat and we think that the sound of the rope being pulled along the side of the boat is what attracted the babies because right after we pulled up the pot the pod headed right for us.
Most of the fun from this video comes from how scared we (really just me) were so some profanity is used. However feel free to laugh at how I respond to a scary situation like this (I yell run even though we are in a rowboat) and enjoy the beautiful orcas at the beautiful Anderson Island! Michael Niccum, Eugene Dight, Steven Sloan, Anderson Islanders
December 12  | Saw a bunch of splashing near Nisqually Reach. Turns out it was Orcas "playing" with some poor seabird. They kept jumping on it and hitting it with their flippers.
Photo by Travis Harris |
December 12  | These guys were not hungry. There were 15-20 stellar sea lions in the area that they totally ignored. They were doing this for fun. They would eat him and spit him out over and over. The bird lived though.
Photo by Travis Harris |
December 12  | Then one came up from out of nowhere and jumped out of the water right in front of me. Scared the crap out of me. Engine was off luckily.
Photo by Travis Harris |
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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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