Transient killer whales find seals in South Puget Sound
UPDATE, Friday, Sept. 4: The transients moved into Oakland Bay this morning. Thanks to Jason Ragan for the report.
UPDATE, Monday, Sept. 8: The whales were spotted over the weekend along Whidbey Island, according to reports made to Orca Network. This morning, they were seen off Seattle. This afternoon, they were off Blake Island headed south.
A group of five seal-eating transient killer whales has been hanging out in South Puget Sound since at least Monday.
One of the transient killer whales spyhops in Oakland Bay Friday morning.
Cell phone photo by Billy Vermeer
They appear to be finding plenty of seals to eat, according to observers. This reminds me of six transient killer whales that visited Hood Canal in 2005, when they stayed and stayed and stayed — a total of 18 weeks. Check out one of numerous stories I wrote that year.
Observers have reported to Orca Network that the whales were spotted at the south end of Vashon Island on Monday morning. On Tuesday, they were seen in Eld Inlet. And today they reached Budd Inlet near Olympia. They’ve also been swimming among South Sound islands.
Erin Falcone of Cascadia Research in Olympia went out in a boat with her colleague Greg Schorr. Here’s what Erin wrote to Orca Network:
“We got reports of these whales early this morning, so Greg Schorr and I just went out to get a better look. There are five individuals in the group, 3 adult female/subadult male sized and two juveniles, one fairly small. Haven’t downloaded the images yet so not sure on the IDs, but we will forward them to Ken and Brad shortly.
“We saw at least two kills — one confirmed harbor seal and one that we assume was a seal, but we were at a distance so did not see the victim. We left the whales in the middle of Budd Inlet, headed slowly south toward Olympia. A WDFW enforcement team is on the water keeping an eye on them, and they said they will be around as long as the whales remain in the area. And that’s the latest from the south sound!”
Ken would be Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research. Brad would be Brad Hanson of the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, who lives in that area, provided this report to Orca Network today:
“I assume that you are getting all the whale reports from South Sound. They were in Eld Inlet near Cooper Point about 11:45 am today, gobbling up the seals. Our bays down here are loaded with seals so the locals are cheering for the whales every step of the way.”
Only time will tell how long the whales will stick around. Anyone who encounters the whales in a boat should be aware of the Be Whale Wise guidelines and a federal proposal to double the legal distance to 200 yards for resident killer whales of Puget Sound.
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September 8th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
UPDATE, Monday, Sept. 8: The whales were spotted over the weekend along Whidbey Island, according to reports made to Orca Network. This morning, they were seen off Seattle. This afternoon, they were off Blake Island headed south.
September 28th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Have you had any recent reports? We witnessed 3 to 4 killer whales in Colvos Passage between Olalla and Southworth on Sun., 9/27, around 8:30 A.M. They were there for some time and it appeared that perhaps they were hunting. There were several seals in the area the day before.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Linda,
Your report from the morning of Sept. 27 follows reports of seal-eating transients off Hartstene Island the day before. See the report on Orca Network. The whales then apparently headed north from your location and were spotted later that day off Eglon in North Kitsap, according to a report filed tonight (Sept. 29) by Orca Network.
Scott Veirs, who helps manage the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network, says he believes he picked up the whales on the Port Townsend hydrophone early yesterday morning (Sept. 28).
Cascadia Research has plotted the movement of some of the whales for various periods of time using a satellite tag. Look at the bottom of this page on Cascadia’s Web site.
If you’d like to recall the various sighting reports, go to Orca Network’s archives and search through the month of September.