Lots of Cetacean activity. This is a
long report due to lack of time to post yesterday. Any Volunteers to
help out with compiling reports? Report includes Transient Bigg's Orca, Pacific White
Sided Dolphins, Dall's and Harbour Porpoise and a Link in the News
about a Humpback Whale collision with a boat. Reminder again to keep
eyes open when on the water.
Susan MacKay, Whales
and Dolphins BC
Have you seen a whale,
dolphin or porpoise?
Call 1-877-323-9776
or Email
your report.
Every sighting report is
valuable!
Transient
Bigg's Killer Whales
Transient Bigg's Killer
Whales
May 18, 2013
Garry Henkel,
Aboriginal Journeys Whale Watching and Grizzly Bear Tours
May 19:
9:02 am Orca are Southbound past
Brown's Bay right now.
Nick Templeman, Campbell River Whale
and Bear Excursions
May 19:
10:10 am Leif left the 4 Orca mid
channel in front of the marina Southbound going about 8 knots.
Jen, Campbell River Whale Watching
May 19:
12:18 pm 4 Orca a mile off shore
parallel of Saratoga (south of Campbell River) heading South.
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale
Watching
May 18:
8:50 am Orca off the fishing hump by
Wilbey shoals – Cape Mudge Northbound. Two big bulls for sure,
maybe more.
Jos Krijnen, Eagle Eye Adventures
May 18:
11:25 am Orca now right outside of
Discovery Marina, Campbell River.
12:05 pm Orca just passed Painter's
Lodge.
Radio
May 18:
2:24 pm 4 Orca total 1/2 mile back from
Brown's Bay. Includes T63 (Chainsaw) and the T65's.
Nick Templeman, Campbell River Whale
and Bear Excursions
May 18:
4:38 pm Picked up the 4 Orca again on
the way back. They're still Northbound by Chatham Point doing about 7
knots.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal
Journeys Whale Watching and Grizzly Bear Tours
May 17:
2:24 pm 5 – 6 Orca by Cortez Bay,
between Hernando and Cortez Islands – 1 large, 1 medium and 2
smaller.
2:54 pm They headed through Baker Pass
and are now by Marina Island.
Jos Krijnen, Eagle Eye Adventures
May 17:
2:40 pm 2 Orca not too far off the
Hernando Dock.
Cam M.
May 17:
4:15 pm 4 Orca including T19B are still
Northbound about 1/2 mile off the beach by Marina Island. Just
leaving them in Sutil Channel.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal
Journeys Whale Watching and Grizzly Bear Tours
May 16:
I was at the park at Grief point
yesterday (May 16) at about 3 p.m. First I saw a BIG Orca, then 3
fins to the south west about mid channel, maybe porpoises, and then
what I suspect was poor little seal, very very close to shore in
front of me (maybe 150 ft. away), staying as low in the water as
possible and every once in a while coming up for a breath of air, the
tip of its nose barely out of the water. It worked its way toward
Beach Gardens, and hopefully found its way to safety among the boats
anchored there. Two pairs of smaller smaller orcas, maybe 5 minutes
apart, followed. In mid channel there were two boats, one big zodiac
and an aluminum boat which I wondered, was that one yours? (No, I
was too busy to get out on the water – SM) I hope the seal is
still alive. Quite a drama.
Jack McGuire, Powell River
May 16:
We saw T 63, affectionately called
Chainsaw among us around Victoria. ;-)
He was seen traveling with the T 65's ,
three of them on May 16th, 2013 at 2pm, heading along the shoreline
of Saturna Island in Boundary Pass.
Marie O'shaughnessy ' Orca-Magic '
Transient Bigg's T063
'Chainsaw'
May 16, 2013
Marie O'shaughnessy '
Orca-Magic '
May 16:
5:11 pm 4 or 5 Orca have been in and
Greensea Bay, above Campbell River around 45 minutes. They're headed
to Elk Bay now.
Tug Yuculta
May 16:
5:30 pm At least 3 Orca out from ferry
terminal in Powell River. Noticed that the sea lions had been barking
a lot and suddenly stopped when the Orca came closer.
Leah Stewart, Powell River
May 16:
5:40 pm After Leah's call, I finally
saw 5 Orca when they came out from behind a tree that has grown a bit
too tall from my vantage point. There were 1 or possibly 2 big males.
Looks like they're VERY slowly Northbound.
7:32 pm These 6 Orca by Powell River
are taking their time. They're just now half way between Harwood Spit
and Atrevida Reef, still Northbound.
8:30 pm (time approx) last blows
reflecting in the sunset angling towards Mace Point or Mystery Reef,
Savary Island.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
May 16:
6 pm 4 Orca Southbound by Brown's Bay,
Campbell River area.
Radio
May 16:
6:19 pm 6 or possibly more Orca just
off the Harwood (Powell River) spit. There's definitely, at least, 1
Male and 1 Juvenile. They've been rolling around and lots of tail
slaps.
Steve Grover, Powell River
Pacific White Sided
Dolphins
May 17, 2013
Steve Grover, Powell
River
Pacific
White Sided Dolphins
May 19:
10:18 am large group of PWS Dolphins at
McMullen Point, Seymour Narrows.
Radio
May 18:
12:55 pm Scattered PWS Dolphins
reportedly in Ramsay Arm, lower Toba Inlet area.
Aaron Nagler, Sonora Lodge
May 18:
7:50 pm 4 Dolphins right in Finn Bay,
off Lund.
Gordie Coles, Sevilla / Savary
Island
May 17:
Hi, this is Robin on the Lora Jan. At
about 5:50 am we saw a large number of pacific white sides dolphins
about 5 minutes straight out of the Westview harbour. I would
estimate there being around 100 and they were travelling north.
Robin, FV Lora Jan
May 17:
There were 2 small groups of dolphins
this morning at 7:55 swimming through Lang Bay. I hear there were
dolphins at Grief Point before noon today. I saw some funny activity
yesterday about the same time, wasn’t sure what it was but in the
end, I think it was fish about 18 inches jumping in a tight group. I
kept watching to see if there were a seal, sea lion or dolphin
chasing them up but didn’t see anything right then. A seal did swim
by quite a bit later.
Michael Stewart, Powell River South
May 17:
9:52 am between 100-150 PWS Dolphins
foraging off the Westview, Powell River ferry terminal. They all
grouped up and looked very undecided as to direction (based on the
Orca reports above; little wonder)
11:03 am They would fast forage and
turn to feed on the fish they chased staying for many hours right out
in front. Darn, no time to go out with them!
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
May 17:
11 am About 100 Dolphins in mouth of
Bute Inlet.
Jos, Eagle Eye Adventures
May 17:
11 am 100+ PWS Dolphins just out in
front of Westview, leaping and running back and forth.
2 pm I've been watching those Pacific
White-sided dolphins for about 3 hours now and followed them down
past the Beach Gardens just before noon. It was raining so hard I
didn't even get the camera out. They headed back north at that point
and by the time I got home and ate lunch I could see them again so I
went back out and got a few shots from the shore. Image 4 has some
sea lions heading out to join the pod for some lunch. A friend of
mine and I watched from the safety of my dining room with the
spotting scope around 11:00 am and saw a lot of jumps and a very
impressive high speed run of the whole pod. Christa was pretty
excited to see these beautiful animals putting on a show. Must be a
lot of food around for them to stay here so long.
Steve Grover, Powell River
May 17:
Somewhere around 150 or so Southbound
towards Grief Point...........Friday May 17th, 11:30 And now they are
Northbound, from the foot of Penticton..........I think they lost
their map. May 17, 12:30
Grant Rainsley, Powell River
May 17:
1 pm Large group of Dolphins just out
in front of Powell River leaping all over the place.
Stan Tupper, Powell River
May 17:
1:53 pm Just watched a pod of PWS
Dolphins that were quite spread out and moving quickly south from
Westview Terminal. It looked like a pod of about 50 all in with the
stragglers.... Hardly breaking the surface.
Lindalu Forseth, Powell River
May 17:
2:13 pm 150 PWS Dolphins milling about
and really spread out wide by Fawn Bluff, Bute Inlet.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal
Journeys Whale Watching and Grizzly Bear Tours
May 16:
11:45 am Just got a quick glimpse of
about 10 dolphins just off Pebble Beach near Myrtle Rocks, Malaspina
Strait. I guess they were feeding as they suddenly
charged about and dived, then came up slowly and charged around and dived
again. They were heading north in a hurry. Sorry, not much of a photo, but
best I could do.
charged about and dived, then came up slowly and charged around and dived
again. They were heading north in a hurry. Sorry, not much of a photo, but
best I could do.
Holly Roy, Powell River South
May 16:
2:12 pm 6 to 8 PWS Dolphins by Cooper
Point in Okisollo Channel Southbound towards either Beazley Pass or
Hole in the Wall.
2:47 pm 50 to 80 PWS Dolphins in Bute
Inlet by Lawrence Point.
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale
Watching
May 16:
4 pm Just left the 60 or so PWS
Dolphins milling at Henrietta Point in Bute Inlet.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
Whale Watching and Grizzly Bear Tours
May 16:
5:36 pm Big group of PWS Dolphins in
Bute according to folks here. Didn't see myself.
Aaron Nagler, Sonora Lodge
Pacific White Sided Dolphins
May 16, 2013
Holly Roy, Powell River South
Dall's
and Harbour Porpoise
May 18:
6 Dall's Porpoise bow riding by Jimmy
Judd Island in Gillard Pass.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal
Journeys Whale Watching and Grizzly Bear Tours
May 16:
1:48 pm 3-4 Harbour Porpoise by
Greensea Bay, just above Campbell River. They disappeared pretty
quickly. (This is usual for these small usually boat-shy Porpoise
– SM)
Mario, Campbell River Whale Watching
Branded
Sea Lion
May 17:
During our tour around Mitlenatch
Island we saw two Steller sea lions with brands. One Steller Sea Lion
has 952R branded – photo submitted – the other was lying on the
branded side so couldn't see the number.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal
Journeys Whale Watching and Grizzly Bear Tours
I asked Jos, Eagle Eye Adventures when
he was out by Mitlenatch to see if he could see the other number –
it was 693R. Photo was to follow.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
May 18:
Dead Sea Lion with no obvious signs of
trauma at Horn Point.
Nick Templeman, Campbell River Whale
and Bear Excursions
Links
in the News
Breaching Humpback Whale causes injury
to boater and maybe him/her
self.
http://www.theprovince.com/technology/environment/undergoes+facial+surgery+after+breaching+humpback/8405734/story.html
http://www.theprovince.com/technology/environment/undergoes+facial+surgery+after+breaching+humpback/8405734/story.html
Canadian whale watching guidelines
details click
here or go to the Links Page on the main
Web site.
Have you seen a whale,
dolphin or porpoise? Call 1-877-323-9776 or Email
your report. Every sighting report is valuable!
The
official governing society of Whales and Dolphins BC is Wild
Ocean Whale Society
(WOWs)