UPDATE, FRIDAY, MAY 28, 8:25 a.m.
On Thursday, it appears the transient killer whales started the
day in Poulsbo’s Liberty Bay, passed by Illahee and went out Rich
Passage about 10 a.m. I heard from researcher Mark Sears that they
had spent the day traveling around Vashon Island, ending up at 8
p.m. at the south end of Bainbridge Island. Check out my story in
today’s Kitsap Sun for a few more details.
———-
I’ve been hearing about transient killer whales in Puget Sound
all year. Dozens of these seal-eating orcas have been sighted in
small groups here and there throughout the region. Check out
Orca
Network’s Archives for reports made to that organization.
Transients have come and gone quickly from Sinclair Inlet near
Bremerton a few times this year. But, as far as I know, yesterday
was the first time since 2004 that they made it all the way into
Dyes Inlet.
It was a good chance for me to talk a little about transients
with the help of Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research and
Howard Garrett of Orca
Network, as you can see in a story I wrote for
today’s Kitsap Sun.
By the way, the last report we had last night was at 7:30 in
Ostrich Bay, but an observer reported them at 9:20 p.m. on the west
side of Dyes Inlet and posted a comment on the story. (Appreciation
goes to “rgdimages#217099.”)
Howie informed me this morning that a group of four transients
was seen coming out of Liberty Bay near Poulsbo at 6:45 a.m. We’ll
try to report whether those are the same animals as the ones in
Dyes Inlet and where they go next. To report to Orca Network, one
can send an e-mail, info@orcanetwork.org, or call (866)
ORCANET.
It seems to be a big year for the transients. Why this is
happening is open to speculation, which is always risky, but I
appreciate Ken’s willingness to think out loud sometimes and kick a
few ideas around. I mean, if scientists are unable to come up with
hypotheses, there is nothing to test for.
So one possible explanation is that transients are here because
residents are somewhere else. Residents may be somewhere else
because there aren’t many salmon here right now. On the other hand,
maybe seals and/or sea lions are finding enough to eat, and
transients are finding success in hunting the smaller marine
mammals.
This whole notion raises all kinds of questions for me, and I’ll
try to explore these ideas in future stories. For example, if there
are fish for seals and sea lions, why aren’t the resident killer
whales eating them? Maybe the smaller marine mammals are
concentrating on smaller fish? If fish are in short supply, will
the population of seals and sea lions crash, or will these animals
go somewhere else, too? And, given the cyclic nature of salmon
populations, what is happening to the entire food chain — from the
forage fish that salmon and seals eat up to the largest predators,
the killer whales?
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