Pacific White Sided Dolphins and
Transient Orca take over the Georgia Strait and lower Johnstone
Strait. Even a few that I don't know how I could have missed in the
last report! There are a few Humpbacks in the area, but Orca are more
visible. Resident Orca are all in the upper reaches of Johnstone
Strait and even farther West while Transients are back to running
closer to home, Powell River, Savary Island and Lund to Cortez and
Quadra Islands. A few Dall's and Harbour Porpoise reports round out
the Cetacean Sightings Reports.
Susan MacKay, Whales
and Dolphins BC
Transient Orca on
Porpoise Kill
Sept 17, 2012
Susan MacKay, SG Images
Transient
(Bigg's) Killer Whales
September 18:
10:49 am Orca tight to shore by the
west side of Hill Island.
September 18:
11:15 am Found 5 Transient Orca, all
small fins, travelling from Hill Island to Breton Islands and Open
Bay (off Quadra) then lost them by 2 pm.
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale
Watching
September 18:
1pm 4 Orca all small fins by Breton
Islands.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
September 17:
8:48 am Spotted at least 2 Orca off the
NW tip of Texada (Coho Point) to Rebecca Rocks, Powell River. Quickly
grabbing gear and a neighbour who had never been whale watching other
than off her deck, we headed out. We came out between Texada and
Rebecca Rocks and joined Elvis, Eagle Eye Adventures who was
the first to find the Orca between Vivian Island off Harwood. There
were a total of 6 Transients who had just made a kill and were
sharing their food. We stayed with them as they made their way up to
Savary Island and left them with Jen, Campbell River Whale
Watching as they headed towards Mitlenatch Island around 1:30 pm.
We headed back with a stop at Vivian to look at the large number of
Sea Lions and Harbour Seals when we heard of another group of
Transients by the Copeland Islands and Lund headed South from Jen,
Campbell River Whale Watching. Off we went.... Picked them up
right outside Lund and with a quick pitstop in Lund, lost them for a
short time till we again joined up with them off Dinner Rock, found
by Geordie, DMS, and continued South with all 8 Transients
leaving them close to the Harwood Island shore in front of the Powell
River Mill around 5:40 pm. That made for a day with a total of 14
Transient Orca, flat calm waters and sunshine for the long day!
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
September 17:
6:48 pm Geordie had that group of Orca
you had off Grant's Reef Northbound.
Jen, Campbell River Whale Watching
September 17:
10:15 am 6 Transient Orca in Teakerne
Arm.
Nick Templeman
September 16:
11:30 am 2 or 3 Orca (Transient Orca
assumed) off Kelsey Bay towards Petersen Island.
Late in the day: heard rumour that
there were some Transients above Lund, but not heard from any actual
sightings report.
Sept 16 update to Simon's sightings of
Sept 14;
Hi Susan, After going over the pictures
we actually had 16 transients off Hornby Island T100b and T100C were
also in the mix. We also had a large Humpback 2.5 miles west off
Sentry shoals westing. Warmest Regards,
Simon Pidcock
Transient Orca Sharing Food
Sept 17, 2012
Susan MacKay, SG Images
Pacific
White Sided Dolphins
September 18:
8:30 am PWS Dolphins by Cinque Islands
September 18:
9:25 am 300+ PWS Dolphins in Discovery
Pass.
Later and all day: A zillion PWS
Dolphins at the Kanish Bay bait ball again.
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale
Watching
September 18:
7 pm At least 200 PWS Dolphins by
Cinque Islands making their way North.
Jen, Campbell River Whale Watching
September 17:
8:15 am 50 PWS Dolphins by Brown's Bay
September 17:
8:52 am 60 PWS Dolphins by Separation
Head foraging.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
September 17:
4:32 pm Zillion PWS Dolphins by Kanish
Bay!
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale
Watching
September 16:
8:15 am 75 – 100 PWS Dolphins by Race
Point in Discovery Pass.
8:30 am Large Groups of PWS Dolphins
spread out from Chatham Point to Kanish Bay.
11 am Somewhere between 500 to 1,000
PWS Dolphins and maybe even more of them Southbound and spread out
from Kanish Bay to Chatham Point to Nodales Channel – They're right
across the Strait and it's amazing!!
1:19 pm 200 PWS Dolphins around Kanish
Bay
3:20 pm 300 or so PWS Dolphins by
Kanish Bay.
September 15:
5:38 pm Hundreds of PWS Dolphins in
Brown's Bay.
September 15:
See note below..I missed a show...
(forwarded by) Jacquie Nevinger, Brown's Bay
Dolphins like a thousand putting on a
show slaughtering herring in front of your motor home @ 5.25 to 6.25
and gulls down stream eating what is left.
Harry
Humpback
Whales
September 16:
9:40 am Humpback Whale by fishing hump
off Cape Mudge, soon after found close to Shelter Point Reef heading
towards the lighthouse. Lots of krill in the water.
Aaron Webber, Campbell River Whale
Watching
Dall's
and Harbour Porpoise
September 18:
Day: Lots of Dall's Porpoise in Bute
Inlet foraging.
Jen, Campbell River Whale Watching
September 18:
5:15 – 7 pm Saw a few groups of
Harbour Porpoises – 5 groups of 2 – 5 each on the ferry to Comox.
(no they were not “on” the ferry). They were spread out over the
course of the ferry ride.
Tara Bladon, Campbell River
September 17:
Day: Several small groups of Dall's
Porpoise in Bute Inlet. 2 to 4 in each group.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys
September 16:
9:15 am Some Dall's Porpoise by Dent
Rapids.