Thursday, June 22, 2006

June 22 2006, Orcalab reports:

No orcas present.

A little bit of news: Donna MacKay had a report this morning of a large group of orcas heading eastward from the Cape Caution area. Also, Cetacealab has heard/seen I31s and some of the A5s (A43s and A25s) over the last few days. The DFO during their Spring survey work ran across the A30s and report that A54 has a new calf. All the A30s were there and looking well. It is a good start!
Helena
22 Jun 2006 12:19:19 PDT

Sunday, June 04, 2006

4 June 2006, Cetaceanlab reports:

We had a report of 2 humpback whales traveling close to our home so we quickly packed the camera, put on rain gear and out the door. We decided that one of us would go out in the boat and the other would stay behind and listen for calls on the hydrophone. I was just leaving the bay in our boat and I could hear Hermann yelling “STOP STOP” I thought there must be something wrong with the boat so shut down immediately. Then I saw this 6 foot black dorsal break the stillness of the water, to follow a female orca, most likely mother and son. Slowly I traveled towards them. They were very relaxed and I was able to get a few excellent ID pictures. Turned out to be 2 transient orcas, T11 and T11A. After following them for a short time I saw 2 more blows, at least 20 feet high so had to be the humpbacks reported earl;ier. Traveled towards them and within minutes recognized these 2 large resident whales. They have been in this area , always together, for weeks now. Then another report on the radio, a family of orcas traveling down Whale channel. This group turned out to be a family of resident orcas, the A42s. They were traveling so close to shore and very quiet, not a single call.