bannernewblack    

Orca Network 

Whale Sighting Report  
In This Issue
Photo of the Day
Southern Residents
Bigg's/Transient orcas
Humpback whales
Gray whales
Dall's porpoise
Orca Network's
LANGLEY WHALE CENTER (LWC)
Has moved next door

NEW ADDRESS:
115 Anthes Ave
 Langley,
Whidbey Island
~~~
Open Thurs - Sun 11 - 5
Displays, videos, gift shop, lending library
-
In order to meet our growth and expanded programs we moved next door into a larger space. To support our ongoing projects you can donate directly to
Orca Network's
Go Fund Me Fundraiser
-
Orca Network recommends:
Puget Sound Whales for Sale: The Fight to End Orca Hunting, by
Sandra Pollard
This important volume recounts the people whose determined efforts ultimately succeeded in ending the captures.

_______________

The Lost Whale, by
Michael Parfit and
Suzanne Chisolm
  An intensely personal story...but this person is a young orca.  

Lost Whale book...ver scaled

______________

 

To learn more  

about orcas: 

Orcas in Our Midst, volume 3, by Howard Garrett

Orcas in Our Midst,

Vol. 3: Residents and Transients, How Did That Happen?

Click here  

to order YOUR copy!

_________________

 

  David Kirby  

The bestseller about orcas in captivity

DeathatSeaWorld


Quick Links

 

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.

Tokitae looking up at us from her tank in Miami, FL in the late 1990s 

Sign up for our 

Whale Sighting  

or Free Lolita

Email Lists


Click Here to Join
November 17, 2015

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.
The lights are flickering as another Fall storm is blasting through our region this morning bringing expected heavy rains and high winds.  Yesterday afternoon Js and Ks headed northeast from Victoria into Haro Strait while Ls headed west in Juan de Fuca Strait.  November 14th, shortly after our last report published, reports started coming in of members of J, K and L pods off Sooke, BC heading west. They ended up staying around the area for many hours socializing and foraging.

Correction to November 11th Bigg's encounter included in our last report: "There may have been some confusion to what T's were north of East Point on the 11th.  I saw it posted that it was the T68B's and T68C with the T49A's and the T123's when it was actually the T68C's (4 whales) and T68B2.  T49A2 was not present so there were 12 whales total up there that day." 
Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research

Many humpbacks area sticking around, we have reports from Haro, Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. We also have at least 2 gray whales in Puget Sound, one of which is making her/his way back and forth between Tacoma and Olympia.

Hoping to get this off in the event the power goes out. Stay safe and we hope to see you on the shores someday, somewhere!
Orca Network 
Photo of the Day
November 14 
J36 Alki with her son J52 Sonic and sister J50 Scarlett. Westbound in the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Sooke BC this afternoon. We spent time with many members of J Pod, and a few K Pod whales. L92 made a brief appearance and other L Pod whales could be seen in the distance.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 
Southern Residents
November 16 
K13's north east bound off of Victoria's waterfront on November 16th.
Photo by Mark Malleson 

November 16 
3:13 p.m. - Word from Mark Malleson via Ken Balcomb is that Js and Ks are coming into Haro Strait off Victoria, and L pod is heading out Strait of Juan de Fuca, also off Victoria, this afternoon.
Howard Garrett, Orca Network

************************

November 14 
Gorgeous image by Deanna of this breaching resident off Sooke, BC where members of Js, Ks, & Ls spent part of the morning and afternoon socializing and foraging together.
Photo by Deanna Brett, November 14, 2015 
 
J17 and J53 in Juan de Fuca Strait, off Sooke BC.
Photo by Deanna Brett, November 14, 2015 

J17 and J53
Photo by Deanna Brett, November 14, 2015 

Photo by Deanna Brett, November 14, 2015 


 
Off Sooke BC. Two babies breaching together!  Taken today while out with Paul from Sooke Coastal Explorations.
Video by Deanna Brett, November 14, 2015 


November 14 
J50 with a chunk of salmon! This is a huge crop and it caused the image to suffer some but this is important as it confirms she is eating solid food. It also appeared to me that she caught the salmon on her own.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 
 
J52 Sonic near Sooke, BC today.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 

J26 Mike westbound in Juan de Fuca near Sooke today.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 

J2 Granny off Sooke. I was very grateful to see her today as it was likely my last time on the water for awhile.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 

J34 Doublestuf with his mother J22 Oreo near Sooke today.
Photo by James Gresham, Novebmer 14, 2015 

K26 Lobo near Sooke on Saturday.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 

November 14 
2:32 p.m. - J K & L pod are all visiting Sooke B.C. - Canada today...always great to sea!
Off Sooke all morning and still hanging around right now! Thanks to Mark Malleson again...for his dedication and intuitive knowledge of where they are.
Paul Pudwell

 
Resident Killer Whales off Sooke B.C. vocalizing with three J calves in area...go pro under wander vocals.
Video by Paul Pudwell, November 14, 2015 


-
12:04 p.m. - Ressies westbound near Sooke. Sounds like members of all 3 pods. Getting on scene now.
James Gresham
-
12:00 p.m. - Report of southern residents Westbound off Beecher Bay in Juan de Fuca Strait. Jpod, Kpod and Lpod.
Josh McInnes

**************************

November 10 
 
More video from K pod & much of L pod's visit into Puget Sound on November 10th. (covered in our previous report) Filmed from shore at Lowman Beach, West Seattle as the pods traveled northbound in tight resting groups close to the Seattle side.
Lovely, lovely, lovely day!
Video by Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
November 10, 2015 
 
Bigg's/Transient orcas
November 11  
T49A4 from our most recent encounter...the T68C's (4 whales) and T68B2.  T49A2 was not present so there were 12 whales total up there that day...East Point/lower Georgia Strait.
Photo by Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research, November 11, 2015
(Full correction in opening summary.  Full CWR Encounter 98 HERE) 
Humpback whales
November 16 
9:31 a.m. - There's a single humpback feeding just south of Eglon, Kitsap boat launch.
This is the only fluke pic I could get.
Photo by Melissa Reid Varno, November 16, 2015 

***********************

November 15 - Haro Strait 
A wonderful day. Sun, lovely light and lots of critters...Haro Strait, Salish Sea.
Photo by Capt. Jim Maya, November 15, 2015 

November 15 - Puget Sound 
11:15 a.m. - off Point No Point, Kitsap
...The whale was first seen north of the Point No Point Lighthouse (Kitsap), then went south toward Eglon, then back close to the original location and was seen further north from Norwegian Point by other members of our group around noon.
Photo by Patricia Damron, November 15, 2015
(This humpback has been photographed regularly in this area since early September) 

11:15 a.m. - Humpback sounding off Point No Point, Kitsap.
Photo by Patricia Damron, November 15, 2015 

11:15 a.m. - Humpback dorsal as she/he surfaces off Point No Point, Kitsap.
Photo by Patricia Damron, November 15, 2015 

Photo by Patricia Damron, November 15, 2015 

- 
10:30 a.m. - I finally got a good look at the back, these are humpbacks, slowly moving S or SW.
10:20 a.m. -  two humpbacks or gray whales 2-3 miles SSW of Scatchet Head, line of sight Double Bluff from Sunset Ave in Edmonds
Sherman Page
-
Humpback off of Point No Point, Kitsap this morning at 10:00am.
Photo by Amber Brust, November 15, 2015 

-
This photo was taken around 9:15 am... the whale had breached in the middle of a group of gulls feeding on a fish ball.  I was at Point No Point with a birding group, and unfortunately I had just put my binos down and started to raise my camera, so no photo of the breach.
Photo by Patricia Damron, November 15, 2015 

************************

November 14 - Juan de Fuca Strait 
Lunge feeding humpbacks near Race Rocks on Saturday.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 

Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 
 
Gray whales
November 16 
12:42 p.m. - Maia of Washington State Ferries called to relay a report of a small Gray whale off the Tyee buoy, Bainbridge Island.

**************************

November 15 
11:34 a.m. - Gray whale heading north along the eastern shoreline out of Eld Inlet toward Hunter Point and Squaxin Island. It is the same gray whale that was here on 11/11/15.
Kim Merriman
-
10:58 a.m. - Large gray whale just spotted in Budd Bay towards the end of Cooper Point headed toward Steamboat.
Kim Stamp

************************

November 14 
After a wonderful afternoon at the grand opening celebration of the Langley Whale Center we were on the 4pm ferry crossing from Clinton to Mukilteo. Mid crossing I was happily surprised by a whale surfacing in between the ferry lanes. A Gray whale! Ed confirmed! We watched it surface and fluke several times. We headed over to Lighthouse park and spoke with police officer Peg Bohan who said she' s been seeing grays lately in this area. So, there really are grays up in Possession Sound in November. Interesting.
Alisa & Ed
 
Gray whale fluking in the waning light. Mid crossing, Clinton-Mukilteo ferry lanes.
Video by Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
November 14, 2015 
 
Dall's porpoise
November 14 
Dall's porpoise slashing through the water this afternoon.
South of Race Rocks Ecological Reserve , BC.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 

A Dall's porpoise exhaling as it approaches the surface, south of Race Rocks.
Photo by James Gresham, November 14, 2015 
 
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.