Transient Bigg's Orca, including probably T087, have been making short appearances interspersed with some other Killer Whales' appearances. We have some more Humpback Whales popping out of the water and a few more Grey Whales creeping up the coast. Pacific White Sided Dolphins have been spotted bowriding a few boats, but are not staying in any one area, for now. A few shy Harbour Porpoise bring up the last of this report which has no submitted photos but some interesting videos.
Susan MacKay, Wild Ocean Whale Society
Killer Whales synchronize their swimming in an attempt to reach a tasty seal meal on the beach.
Video by Caro Pereira in Argentia
Society News & Events
Our April 22, 2016 Earth Day Fundraising Event including buffet dinner, live music and some fun fundraising activities is scheduled for Powell River at the Beach Gardens Resort and Marina's PowWow Banquet Room. Grief Point will be our first location for our Real Time Marine Wildlife Monitoring system which will stream on line, once all resources are available.
Tickets are $20.00 each and available at Beach Gardens and Hindle's Gifts or through our Society Members.
Tickets will also be available at our information table on Saturday March 26th at Quality Foods.
Tickets are $20.00 each and available at Beach Gardens and Hindle's Gifts or through our Society Members.
Tickets will also be available at our information table on Saturday March 26th at Quality Foods.
For those of you who utilize and check our Map Archives, you will notice that we have been working, as time permits, on adding our older 2015 sightings reports to these maps. It is through the great work of our dedicated volunteer analysts, who we can't say thank you enough to! We are always looking for volunteers interested in Cetacea and mapping, who would be willing to spend some time with our growing Society network.
Review our current Volunteer Job Postings
Our GoFundMe Campaign to help us out with our Real Time Monitoring Stations can be accessed at:
Keep Wild Ocean Whale Society Live
For our DONATE page click here
Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?
We are the non-profit Wild Ocean Whale Society
Call
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Sightings Update
SIGHTINGS MAP 2016-007
TRANSIENT BIGG'S KILLER WHALES
Tue Mar 22 2016
08:45 • 4 Bigg`s Orca heading South-West angling towards Comox, Georgia Strait.
08:18 • 4 Bigg`s Orca back and forth, between Powell River and Rebecca Rocks, Malaspina Strait. Looks like they're feeding on a kill. ▫ Observed from Shore
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins B.C.
08:02 • 10 Bigg`s Orca heading towards Vivian Island, Malaspina Strait. A couple or 3 calves as well. ▫ Second Hand
Jay Feaver, Powell River, CCG
Sun Mar 20 2016
16:57 • 1 Bigg`s Orca heading South out from Earl's Cove heading towards Sechelt Inlet, Jervis Inlet. There was just the one lone large male. Possibly T087?. ▫ From Ferry
Judy Brant, Powell River
Wed Mar 16 2016
19:03 • 7-10 Bigg`s Orca between Blubber Bay and Powell River in Malaspina Strait. Spread out. Looks like two males, one blow looked smaller than the rest so maybe calf.
18:58 • 7-10 Bigg`s Orca heading South
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins B.C.
UNIDENTIFIED KILLER WHALES
Tue Mar 22 2016
12:41 • 4 Orca heading North heading towards Frederick Arm near the top of Nodales Channel. They were quite elusive. ▫ On Scene
Bill Coltart, Pacific Pro Dive
Sat Mar 19 2016
19:00 • 1 Orca passed Roberts Creek heading towards Nanaimo in Georgia Strait.
Brandi Mladenich
Fri Mar 18 2016
19:05 • Orca heading North in the area of Salmon Point on Vancouver Island in Georgia Strait. Looks like a large group from their blows. ▫ Observed from Shore
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins B.C.
09:41 • 3 Orca heading North by Union Bay on Vancouver Island in Baynes Sound. Probably more in area.
Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures
Thu Mar 17 2016
12:40 • 4 Orca heading North just off the west side of Texada Island in Georgia Strait. All small fins. ▫ From Ferry
Jim Southern, Powell River
Mon Mar 14 2016
18:20 • 10 Orca at the entrance to Discovery Harbour in Campbell River in Discovery Passage. Just before dark. ▫ Second Hand
Geord Dunstan, Discovery Marine Safaris
15:20 • 4-5 Orca between Goose Spit and Sandy Island in Baynes Sound. Two large bulls by the concial buoy. ▫ Second Hand
Bill Coltart, Pacific Pro Dive
Thu Mar 10 2016
14:30 • 3 Orca travelling, between the southern tip of Denman Island and Vancouver Island in Baynes Sound. Maybe feeding from splashing observed. ▫ Observed from Shore
Manfred Winter, Bowser
Humpback Whales take a slow lunge feed right beside the drifing boat they used to help corral their food. Video taken in the Mexican Baja.
Video from Facebook taken by Pamela MartÃnez Loustalot was shared by Jorge Urban
Humpback Whales take a slow lunge feed right beside the drifing boat they used to help corral their food. Video taken in the Mexican Baja.
Video from Facebook taken by Pamela MartÃnez Loustalot was shared by Jorge Urban
HUMPBACK WHALES
Tue Mar 15 2016
10:00 • 1 Humpback Whales breaching, heading South at the mouth of Kanish Bay on Quadra Island in Discovery Passage.
Alison Martin, Victoria, BC
Mon Mar 14 2016
10:07 • 1 Humpback Whales just south of Mitlenatch Island in the Georgia Strait.
Elvis Chikite, Eagle Eye Adventures
Sat Mar 12 2016
08:46 • 2-3 Humpback Whales heading North moving slowly by Rebecca Rocks.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins B.C.
GREY WHALES
Fri Mar 18 2016
10:30 • 3 Grey Whale travelling, heading West in Barkley Sound. Grays, humpbacks and orcas all seen from Ucluelet and Tofino in the last 4 days. ▫ On Scene
Don McBain, North Vancouver
PACIFIC WHITE SIDED DOLPHINS
Tue Mar 22 2016
14:27 • PWS Dolphins bow riding, by Rock Bay, Johnstone Strait. No numbers or direction.
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale Watching
Thu Mar 17 2016
13:38 • PWS Dolphins bow riding, around Menzies Bay on Vancouver Island in Discovery Passage. ▫ Radio Report
Radio, overheard or call out
HARBOUR PORPOISE
Sun Mar 20 2016
04:54 • Harbour Porpoise between Newcastle Island and Vancouver Island passed through Nanaimo Harbour. Small group. They were small with no distinguishing markings and swam slowly. They were so small at first I thought they were otters, which are common here.
Mike Hollinshead
SIGHTINGS HEAT MAP 2016-007
The Magazine
This week, the Magazine focuses on Dolphins with a series of articles and videos covering the birth, language, feeding, intellect and death of the animals we humans have found so mysterious and appealing throughout our history.
Our look includes:
- Video of a dolphin birth witnessed by passengers on a Whale Watching Excursion
- Breaking the communication barrier between dolphins and humans
- Dramatic Video of Dolphins feeding on a Herring ball off Cornwall, UK, and a
- Dolphin stampede off Southern California
- A Risso's dolphin has washed up at Tlel Beach, on Haida Gwaii
- Efforts to reduce Dolphin mortality from the Sword Fishery off California and in small scale artisanal fishery in Africa
and finally we learn about
- The history of Cold War Dolphin Soldiers, in light of the publication of a recent Russian tender to purchase Bottle Nose dolphins for new military duties.
Our look includes:
- Video of a dolphin birth witnessed by passengers on a Whale Watching Excursion
- Breaking the communication barrier between dolphins and humans
- Dramatic Video of Dolphins feeding on a Herring ball off Cornwall, UK, and a
- Dolphin stampede off Southern California
- A Risso's dolphin has washed up at Tlel Beach, on Haida Gwaii
- Efforts to reduce Dolphin mortality from the Sword Fishery off California and in small scale artisanal fishery in Africa
and finally we learn about
- The history of Cold War Dolphin Soldiers, in light of the publication of a recent Russian tender to purchase Bottle Nose dolphins for new military duties.
REGIONAL & WEST COAST
ABC News, CA
A tour boat of whale watchers were treated to a rare sight off the Dana Point coast on Thursday, as hundreds of dolphins were spotted porpoising at high speed in the ocean.
Porpoising - in which marine mammals jump repeatedly above the surface as they swim rapidly - helps dolphins swim faster because of the lower resistance in air than water.
LA Times, CA
The crew and passengers didn’t know what to make of it – a group of false killer whales, a type of large dolphin, swam up and began bumping their whale watching boat Saturday off the Dana Point coast.
As people tried to hold their cameras steady, a female false killer whale bobbed in the water nearby. Blood rose to the surface, followed by the weak, curved dorsal fin of the mother’s new calf.
In a moment not often captured on video, let alone seen on a whale watching trip, the passengers and crew of Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari witnessed a marine mammal giving birth in the open ocean.
BC Local News
Years of unusually warm water in the northeast Pacific have led to large algae blooms, and biologists are concerned they could be sending algae-produced toxins, such as demoic acid, up the food chain.
This past year, an unusually high number of dead cetaceans have washed up on the B.C. and Alaska coasts, and algal toxins are a possible cause.
They are usually swimming a kilometre or more offshore from Haida Gwaii or Vancouver Island.
Risso’s are among the larger dolphins, with adult males reaching lengths up to four metres.....
Underwater soldiers: The history of military dolphins, from the Cold War to present
CBC Radio show Day 6
Last week, the Russian state department issued an unusual request: A call to recruit five dolphins. And this isn't the first time Russia has trained a military dolphin unit. Science historian Graham Burnett dives into the history of military dolphins.
Sacramento Bee, CA
Image: Pew Charitable Trust
Image: Pew Charitable Trust
Off California’s southern coast, a small fleet of commercial fishing boats hunts for the majestic swordfish by using milelong drift gillnets that form floating walls through the sea. Though the boats number 20 active vessels at most, the fishing technique is known to trap tons of fish and sea mammals such as dolphins.
INTERNATIONAL
National Geographic
A comprehensive article looks at dolphin intelligence from the physiological to their social adaptations that have allowed dolphins to master their environment.
Daily Mail, UK
After studying long-finned pilot whales, researchers have detected dialect differences similar to the way humans from a specific location have their own vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
And they are honing on identifying which dialect comes from which region.
Duke University, NC
Scientists have created highly detailed maps charting the seasonal movements and population densities of 35 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises -- many of them threatened or endangered -- in the crowded waters of the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. - See more at: https://nicholas.duke.edu/about/news/new-maps-may-help-reduce-threats-whales-dolphins-us-waters#sthash.r8kSDtTa.dpuf
Yorkshire Evening Post, UK
VIDEO - They were spotted by wildlife expert Ross Wheeler in Falmouth Bay, Cornwall.
He was leading a tour for Exeter University students who were monitoring the so-called harbour porpoise. But instead they found a much greater scene - 190 common dolphins rounding up a massive school of herring.
ABC, Australia
Scientists have gathered DNA samples from a unique hybrid dolphin that washed ashore in Western Australia's north.
While hybrid dolphins have been seen occasionally, it is believed to be the first time in the world one has been studied.
The WOWs Magazine welcomes reader submissions of links to Published Articles and Media. We also welcome submissions of original: Articles, Letters, Notices, Photography, Video and Audio.
In the Desktop viewer, please look for the Magazine Submissions Button at the bottom of the page and in the top sidebar
Original Material Guidelines: Notices: max. 100 words; Letters & Articles: max. 500 words. You or your organization must be the Authors of the work and are solely responsible for its content.
The WOWs Magazine gives no assurance material submitted will be published.
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Have you seen a whale, dolphin or porpoise?
We are the non-profit Wild Ocean Whale Society
Call
1-877-323-9776