T100 and T100E
Photo by Ken Balcomb

T30
Photo by Ken Balcomb

T87
Photo by Ken Balcomb

T124A and T124A4
Photo byMark Malleson

Encounter # 5 • February 3 • Transients

Observers: Ken Balcomb, Mark Malleson

Throughout the day and night of 2 February, and in the morning of 3 February, transient killer whale calls were intermittently heard on the Lime Kiln hydrophone, but no whales could be seen by observers from San Juan Island, until at 0830 Jeanne Hyde spotted fins on the Canadian side of the border near Kelp reef. Ken Balcomb and Mark Malleson headed out in r/v “Orca” from Oak Bay, Canada and encountered a large group of transient killer whales very close to shore just north of Baynes Channel. Within two hours they photo-identified 27 individuals, including new calves T100E and T124A4, as the whales dispersed in matrilineal groups and hunted for marine mammals south of Victoria, BC. An oily patch near them at Constance Bank at 1230 suggested they had found at least one seal. In the afternoon, the whales turned toward the east as if heading toward Dungeness Spit. Mark and Ken preliminarily identified 27 whales in the evening, and Dave Ellifrit confirmed: the T30’s, T86’s, T87, T88, T90’s, T100’s, T101’s, T102, T124’s, T124A’s, and T172 – a Superpod of transients!

Postscript: Brad Hanson and Greg Schorr went out aboard the NWFSC research boat on 4 February when this large group of transients ventured into Puget Sound, and they applied satellite tags to two individuals (T100B and T100C). These two whales (and perhaps some of their colleagues) have since traveled from Puget Sound to Georgia Strait off Nanaimo, to the east of Cortes Island, back to Nanaimo, down to the south of Saltspring Island, back up almost to Campbell River, and by February 11 are off Texada Island heading back south! Mark Malleson, meanwhile has found the T30’s and T172 off Victoria, so the superpod has apparently dispersed.

These photos were taken under MMPA permit #532-1822