Southern
Resident Killer Whales and Pacific White Sided Dolphins put on a show
around the Powell River area. It's nice to see them return. With all
the rough weather we've been having, sightings have been few and far
between. November 1st was incredibly calm and sunny making
it a serious treat to see the ever so active Southern Resident Orca
and playful Pacific White Sided Dolphins. Most of the Humpback Whales
appear to have headed or are heading South, but suspect we still have
some more that may hang around this year. Dall's Porpoise and some
great links in the news bring up the end the of this current update
to noon, November 4th.
Susan
MacKay & Lynne Cracknell, Whales and Dolphins BC
Have
you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?
Every
sighting report is valuable!
SOUTHERN
RESIDENT KILLER WHALES
Southern
Resident Orca off Savary Island
November
1, 2014 – 5 photos
Gordie
Coles, Savary Island / Lund
Nov
1:
11:26
am: About 20 Orca between Savary Island and Harwood Island. They came
around Mace Point right underneath our place and it was wonderful to
be able to see them even without binoculars. They're angling towards
Vivian Island rather than Powell River.
Doug
Smith, Savary Island
Nov
1:
11:30
am Just out from the dock looking for the PWS Dolphins with friend
and one of our non-profit members, Judy Brant when we received a call
that there were Orca angling towards Vivian Island. As we headed that
way, we found the Dolphins and decided to stay with them a while
since they were being so wonderfully playful. Judy managed to get
some incredibly great video with her iPad. See the LINKS below.
12:20
pm: We left the Pacific
White Sided Dolphins foraging still by Powell River to see who these
Orca might be. From the brief look through binoculars, I could tell
immediately from the open saddle patches that they were definitely
Southern Resident Killer Whales. Heading towards Comox, spread across
the Strait.
12:40
pm: Southern Resident Killer Whales are on a mission. They are center
Strait now passing the Comox ferry. Lots of breaching. Even at a
distance we could see all their blows and when one breached, for sure
another would. And me with no camera!
Susan
MacKay, Whales and Dolphins B.C.
Oct
31:
3:47
pm: Just received a message from a friend that there were northbound
Killer Whales in the Cape Mudge (Quadra Island) area at noon. And
Gary Sutton from Vancouver texted me just now to say he thought J pod
was up our way. Might head out on to the water to have a scan.
Nick
Templeman, Campbell River Whale and Bear Excursions.
UNIDENTIFIED
RESIDENT KILLER WHALES
Oct
29:
12:44
pm: Killer whales coming by the wharf at Kelsey Bay right now and
putting on quite a show! There are four of them, westing. We have
been watching them feeding on Chum Salmon right at the river mouth.
Gordon
Briggs, Sayward.
HUMPBACK
WHALES
Oct
29:
11:35
am: Three Humpback whales southbound at Whiskey Point, Quadra Island.
Garry
Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours.
PACIFIC
WHITE SIDED DOLPHINS
Bow
Riding Pacific White Sided Dolphins
October
31, 2014
Marie
O'Shaughnessy, Orca Magic
Nov
1:
10:30
am: 80-100 Pacific White Sided Dolphins in between Powell River and
the top of Texada Island, foraging back and forth.
11:26
am Just out from the dock looking for the PWS Dolphins with friend
and one of our non-profit members, Judy Brant when we received a call
that there were Orca angling towards Vivian Island. As we headed that
way, we found the Dolphins and decided to stay with them a while
since they were being so wonderfully playful. Judy managed to get
some incredibly great video with her iPad. See the LINKS below.
12:20
pm: We left the Pacific
White Sided Dolphins foraging still by Powell River.
Susan
MacKay, Whales and Dolphins B.C.
November
1:
around
10:45 am a rough count of 75 Pacific White Sided Dolphins
approximately 1/2 distance between Westview, Powell River and Blubber
Bay, Texada. They're moving generally upcoast - swinging over toward
Vancouver Island, will pass the Island side of Harwood Island.
Sherri
Wretham, Powell River
Nov
1:
1:00
pm: Large group of Pacific White Sided Dolphins doing a couple of
donuts by Willingdon Beach, then headed south towards Grief Point,
Powell River.
Bob
Nichols, Powell River.
Oct
31:
8:10
am. group of 60 - 100 dolphins travelling towards Black Point, Powell
River. They were about 200 yards out from shore by the Whalen Road
area. They were followed about 15 minutes later by a really small
group of 4-6 much closer in to shore - 30 yards approx.
Liz
Kennedy, Powell River
October
31:
9:30
am: 15 or so Pacific White Sided Dolphins southbound by Myrtle Rocks,
Powell River. Just nicely
rolling along.
Jim
Southern, Powell River.
Oct
31:
Oct
31 was my last sighting of 5-6 Pacific White Sided Dolphins bow
riding the Coho Ferry as it was nearing the Victoria Harbour. We have
seen as few as one keeping company with an L pod whale, and as many
as a 100 plus this year. We have had several encounters with these
charismatic marine mammals over the past three months. Best sightings
ever for the south Salish Sea. Totally awesome for us as we never
ever saw them three-four years ago. Certainly changes going on in the
waters around Vancouver Island that dictate a greater number of
sightings this year.
Marie
O'Shaughnessy, Orca Magic
DALL'S
PORPOISE
Nov
1:
3:55pm:
Scanned for a bit hoping to see the Southern Resident Orca and saw
8-10 Dall's Porpoise off Willow Point Reef, near Campbell River,
milling about.
Nick
Templeman, Campbell River Whale and Bear Excursions
LINKS
November
1: Pacific White Sided Dolphins in the calm waters off Powell River
come to bow ride. The reflections of the clouds and even birds flying
above make this quite magical.
Chester
the young False Killer Whale at the aquarium playing in the rain:
I
haven't sent any dolphin and whale reports this year, because we
haven't been privileged in Sechelt and Narrows Inlet to spot them.
But we might have different travelling schedules. Not sure if you're
interested in stellar sea lions, but Soren and I have never seen this
many of them in Narrows Inlet in over 20 years of commuting to our
cabin. Yesterday, October 29, everywhere we looked there were gulls
flocking to another sea lion feeding area. Obviously after the chum
and a good sign.
I
filmed this video from our dock. Soren edited and posted it to
YouTube. Thank you for all your hard work and all the best, Joan
Bech, Roberts Creek (Thanks Joan, video clip clearly shows how sea
lions tear their food apart - SM)
Have
you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?
Every
sighting report is valuable!
We
are the non-profit Wild Ocean Whale Society