J16 & her 16 month-old daughter J50 Photo by Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research, April 25, 2016

J34 in Sidney Channel on the afternoon of April 28th. Photo by Mark Malleson

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8:30 p.m. - Left J16's off Ripple Island heading for San Juan Channel. Met them at Blunden as the sun was setting . At first they zig zagged and then doubled back and headed towards Johns Pass. It was after 8:30 and getting dark but we wanted to see where they were going to go!
6:45 p.m. - J16's nearing Blunden, pointed at Turn.
Barbara Bender


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...The morning began with J pod calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophone around 0630 and a distant visual sighting by Jeanne Hyde a short time later of several dorsal fins and a breach east of Beaumont Shoal on the Canadian side of the border in Haro Strait. It took a little more than two hours before the whales came slowly past the Center for Whale Research headed northwest bucking an ebbing tide...See full Encounter 36 Report.
Center for Whale Research

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After twenty years of watching these whales one of those magic moments I had been waiting for finally arrived. Today I was able to visit with all of Jpod as they traveled through beautiful Active Pass. It was truly an inspiring, humbling experience.
Sara Hysong-Shimazu

Doublestuf (J34) making a quick change of direction in the pass and showing off his handsome face in the process! Photo by Sara Haysong-Shimazu, April 25, 2016

Slick (J16) and Scarlet (J50) in Active Pass. Photo by Sara Hysong-Shimazu, April 25, 2016

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J52 "Sonic" looking small compared to his uncle, J26 "Mike"! Photo by Gary Sutton, April 25, 2016

J50 "Scarlet" peeking up between mom and sister with her big brother J26 "Mike" in the lead. Photo by Gary Sutton, April 25, 2016

J51 " Nova "- Awesome to see the "Jabies" from last season for the first time today. Photo by Gary Sutton, April 25, 2016

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J Pod this morning, going north past my neighborhood on Mitchell Point, San Juan Island. They were a ways off shore. Photo by Jim Maya, April 25, 2016

Photo by Jim Maya, April 25, 2016

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12:13 p.m. - Hearing calls (again, still?) on the OrcaSound hydrophone on NW San Juan Island!
Susan Berta, Orca Network
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9:54 a.m. - repeated calls including S4s-  on OS.
9:40 a.m. -  whistling, calls intermittent, some loud -on OS.
9:20 a.m. -  switched to OrcaSound hearing loud calls and echolocation.
Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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9:17 a.m. - Jpod vocals and lots of echolocation on Orcasound hydro right now! Calls are distant.
Renee Beitzel
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8:42 a.m. - intermittent faint calls, echolocation steady.
8:21 a.m. vocals still faint, now hearing echolocation
8:08 a.m. -  distant/faint J pod vocals on Lime Kiln.
Alisa Lemire Brooks

8:08 a.m. - hearing orcas on Lime Kiln hydrophone.
Althea Leddy

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Here's a photo of one of the 4 whales we saw last Saturday, April 16th, at 5:15 pm from our deck on Tala Shore Drive. They were headed south towards Hood Head. It was the first time we have ever seen orcas here--and we have lived here 26 years. (That's at the entrance to Hood Canal in Admiralty Inlet. - HG)
Andrea Knappen Neault

J38 -  Cookie (born 2003) Photo by Andrea Knappen Neault, April 16, 2016 (ID by Sara Hysong-Shimazu)

1605 - A pod of Orca, with a couple breaching between North side of Orcas and Matia Island heading NW.
David McIntire

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T049A1, T049A and T049A2 pushing west out the Juan de Fuca Strait west of Port Angeles on the afternoon of April 26. Photo by Mark Malleson

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10:53 - 4Ts going S from Detwiller Pt. to Porlier Pass. (Georgia St, SE of Nanaimo).
Ron Bates

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Today was just lovely! Caught up with the T65As (first time this year!) T49As and T49C....These guys cruised over to Turn Point Lighthouse on Stuart island. This is perhaps one of my most favorite places to photograph whales with backlit blows and pure green water! Photo by Traci Walter, April 24, 2016

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Transient double breach 04-24-16 near Stuart island. Photo by Brian Goldberg, April 24, 2016

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Spotted at least 4 orcas around 12:30pm today while on the ferry from Sídney, B.C to Friday Harbor, WA. Lots of dorsal fins. Happened about 30 min into the route on the north side of the boat.
Angela Staiger

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Transient Orca super pod all traveling together  65A's, 49A's, 123's, 65B, 65B1 and others were making their way to the group. Video by Brian Goldberg, April 23, 2016

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EPIC day with the T49A's, T65A's, T65B's, and T123's! A little ways north of Protection Island.  Incredible action from these guys: pirouettes, double breaches, super spyhops, sea snakes, and mid-air barrel rolls. Here are images of orcas defying gravity.
Katie Jones

Photo by Katie Jones, April 23, 2016

Photo by Katie Jones, April 23, 2016

Photo by Katie Jones, April 23, 2016

Photo by Katie Jones, April 23, 2016

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Transient Orcas socializing. North of Protection Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Photo by Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Legacy WW, April 23, 2016

Photo by Capt. Jim Maya, April 23, 2016

Photo by Capt.  Jim Maya, April 23, 2016

Photo by Capt. Jim Maya, April 23, 2016

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...Later that morning we got a report of killer whales near the mouth of Puget Sound between Admiralty Inlet and Port Townsend. When we got on scene I quickly identified the commonly known T065As, T065Bs, T049As, T049C, and T123s. I had not seen T065B and T065B-1 in quite some time, so that was exciting! I just love these large groupings of mammal-hunting killer whales (Bigg's/transients) we see in the spring! I wonder what initiates such groupings, but I suspect the reason is ecological. We saw hundreds of breaches and displays of social behavior. This is usually very rare for these types of killer whales because they need to be very quiet and stealthy in order to exploit their intelligent prey. They must have all had very full bellies ... I think the orcas spent more time out of the water than in it! We saw back flips, spyhops, cartwheels, breaches, head-stands, and heaps of tactile behavior....
Heather MacIntyre

Someone pause for a look around in the midst of the gathering. Photo by Heather MacIntyre, April 23, 2016

Photo by Heather MacIntyre, April 23, 2016

Photo by Heather MacIntyre, April 23, 2016

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A breach sequence from today's incredible encounter with 3 transient pods in Admiralty Inlet. Photo by James Gresham, April 23, 2016

Photo by James Gresham, April 23, 2016

Photo by James Gresham, April 23, 2016

Photo by James Gresham, April 23, 2016

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12:17 p.m. - they are steadily traveling NW on their way out of Admiralty inlet. Harder to see now - will be out of sight from Whidbey soon.
11:49 a.m. - At Fort Ebey state park, can see the pod mid channel. I've seen some crazy surface activity in the few minutes I got here. Water like glass and easy to see.
Rachel Haight
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11:12 a.m. - Transient orcas at Ebeys Landing northbound. Out on Redhead, amazing activity and vocalizations.
Trevor Tillman

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11:00 a.m. -  Orca's in Penn Cove on their way out. There were six feeding near the mussel farms. Photo by Kit Rhodes, April 20, 2016

0845 local time Apr. 27, viewed from land. Location-2km. SE of Comox Ferry terminal, approx. 1 1/2 km offshore. Best estimate, 7 animals. We have seen much more Orca activity in the last year than in any of the previous 12 years we have lived here.
Ron Ulmi 

April 29 

3 pm trip, and we had a full load on Sound Water Stewards' fundraising cruise. We dodged the heavier rain showers and found gray whale #723 Lucyfer just south of Hat/Gedney Island, traveling back and forth along the shallow banks. Then to our delight, #49 Patch appeared to show us his very distinctive "patch" and tail fluke, what a treat! Heading north, we then found #21 Shackelton - the first whale to be documented in Possession Sound (by Cascadia Research Collective), way back in 1990!!....
Jill Hein, volunteer naturalist, Mystic Sea

Nice to see Patch is still in the area. Photo taken south of Hat/Gedney Island on Sunday 24th, 4 pm. We also saw #723 Lucyfer, and #21 Shackleton (newly named by Cascadia Research Collective). Photo by Jill Hein, April 24, 2016

Gray whale #21 Shackleton. Photo by Jill Hein, April 24, 2016

#723 Lucyfer. Photo by Jill Hein, April 24, 2016

Top of #723's flluke. Photo by Jill Hein, April 24, 2016

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Probably gray whale #44. Couldn't confirm ID but whoever it was, was heading north from Possession when we saw him. there's also 3 others northwest of Gedney- #49, 723 and 383 were all together.
Renee Beitzel
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Spouting spotted @ 12:15pm on 4/24 Clinton going to Mukilteo ferry crossing...spouting spotted to the north of the ferry. (No dorsal fins seen, so guessing not orcas.)
Jeff Reoch

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With much better weather conditions than originally forecast, gray whales #49 (Patch), #383 and #723 put in an appearance between Gedney Island and Everett in search of their favorite food source, ghost-shrimp. For much of the time #383 and #723 were traveling together, with all three whales changing direction frequently and intent on feeding. Just getting on with life.
Sandra Pollard, Author/Naturalist, Mystic Sea

Gray whale #383. Photo by Sandra Pollard, April 23, 2016

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12:04 p.m. - Just got back in from gray whale trip from Edmonds with Puget Sound Express. Watched two gray whales north of Everett fantastic morning...
Karen Knight

Gray whale #383 north of Everett. Photo by Karen Knight, April 23, 2016

Photo by Karen Knight, April 23, 2016

Photo by Karen Knight, April 23, 2016

 

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(Below are reports of a Gray whale that has likely come into Puget Sound because it's not strong/well enough to make the entire migration, and we, Cascadia Research Collective , and the NW Marine Mammal Stranding Network have been tracking it since last weekend. It was also documented off Meadow Point, Golden Gardens park on the 27th)

0630 hours: Ferryboat crew of the Issaquah and Sealth report a gray whale located 1/2 mile north of Vashon Head  at LAT. North 47.31.08- LONG. West 122.28.02 The crew reports the whale appears emaciated and the lethargic and are concerned about its welfare.  No pictures available.
John Rogstad, WSF

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April 28  

11:18 a.m. - Unidentifiable whale in shipping lane off of Vashon Island drifting northwards towards Blake island. Drifting in surface and blowing occasionally. Hope it is not in distress.
Terry Blumer
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11:00 a.m. - Humpback or grey whale in between Lincoln Park and Vashon Island, main shipping channel. Floating, have seen some blows.
Sharon Blumer
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April 24 

5:45 p.m. - Today while sailing we thought we changed our course a bit to avoid a log or rock and were pretty surprised to find that when we passed it was actually a grey whale. We were concerned because it didn't appear to be moving aside from a little bobbing with the water, which was quite calm. It was about 5:45, just Southwest of Kingston pretty close to shore, at about 47.772214,-122.469870. We had it in sight for only about 5 minutes.
Caitlin Gibson
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5:07 p.m. - There is a whale between Jefferson Head and Kingston floating on the surface moving very slowly. At first we thought he was dead, but he appears to be alive. I'm a newbie at this so not sure what else to report.
Nancy Langwith 

What a day! Maya's Legacy Whale Watching set out early in the morning for our (hopefully) monthly eight-hour tour with hopes high. We encountered BCY0160 "Heather" the humpback right outside of our harbor early on. (Snug Harbor) I'm grateful that we have these gentle giants in the Salish Sea again. They were nearly eradicated by one whaling station here at the turn of the century but are making a huge comeback, known affectionately as the "humpback comeback"! This is Heather's 14th consecutive year here according to researchers. Interestingly enough, she was the last humpback I saw here last November.
Heather MacIntyre

BCY0160 "Heather" in Haro Strait just outside Snug Harbor. Photo by Heather MacIntyre, April 23, 2016

.....As if the day wasn't epic enough we also encountered a Minke whale (second smallest baleen whale in the world) on the way back to our harbor. (Snug Harbor) As Jared Towers documents in his 2014 publication on seasonal movements and ecological markers as evidence for common minke whale migration, I also observed numerous cookiecutter shark scars on this individual which was very interesting! This individual must have just gotten back to its summer range...
Heather MacIntyre 

Anna Gullickson of Kenmore Air just sent in this report: A fellow pilot just spotted a pod of some type of whale about 5 miles South of Smith Island at 3:36 pm. She thinks maybe Fin whales? She thinks there were about 4 of them. They are dark grey, almost black w/ a bit of a white understreak. They were feeding on herring balls w/ the seagulls and that is how she spotted them.