Posts Tagged ‘Harbor Seals’
Friday, September 16th, 2011
Despite the chilly weather and gray skies today was another amazing day. Whales were down south of Salmon Bank. On our journey south we saw the usual (yet always exciting) seals, sea lions and harbor porpoise. Once we were out in the straight we had an unexpected encounter with 2 little minke whales (and 2 more in the distance). After the wonderful surprise Minke sighting we pressed on even farther south. The whales were headed south and west. The first two residents we came upon were L88 and L26. They were milling in one spot for several minutes, rolling around each other with some interesting behavior. After a while they straightened up and followed the rest of the pod west. We weren’t sure what exactly the whales were doing. Some of them seemed to be traveling at a good clip. Some of them were milling in all directions. Finally we saw several good size salmon leap out of the water; a good indication that hunting was indeed happening. Right before we turned to head back home a little whale surfaced just in front of us. We got a great look at the saddle and identified the little guy as K34, a juvenile (well, almost teenage) male.
It was a brisk day on the water, but worth it to be out with orcas and minkes!
Oh, a word to the wise, if you are reading this and will be coming out with us….bundle up! The weather has changed. You can never have enough layers and being prepared and warm will ensure that you get the most out of your wildlife adventure! The good news is, the whales don’t care if it is a bit chilly. They are always prepared. See you soon!
Laura, naturalist
Tags: Cattle Pass, Harbor Seals, K Pod, L pod, Orca whale
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Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
Ok, readers, today was my last day of the season out on the water in the Pacific Northwest and we were duly rewarded with wonderful sea conditions and one of the ocean underdogs: Minke Whales! Sure, it was a little overcast but the sea responds well to this. As we made our way out from the harbor and towards Cattle Pass, we saw twenty to thirty harbor porpoises and numerous swimming harbor seals and steller sea lions. We even saw a bald eagle–my first in about two weeks! Passengers were constantly on the lookout for appearing and disappearing wildlife as we watched six to eight steller sea lions pop up and disappear off Whale Rocks.
Just between Whale Rocks and Salmon Bank, as we headed out, Naturalist Laura spotted a small–juvenile–minke whale being very surface active. This minke was not foraging under the usual cloud of swarming sea birds, but rather finding its own dinner. A little further out we saw two more minkes and continued to watch them in the flat calm perfect conditions that the Salish Sea rarely doles out. They were hanging out with hundreds of sea birds and a few hungry seals.
Hoping to see a glimpse of the orcas, we continued around San Juan Island with a jaunt through Mosquito Pass by Roche Harbor and a stop for some young harbor seals at Sentinel Island. We even checked out the strange wildlife at Spieden Island, finding many mouflon sheep that appeared to already have their darker winter coats. Two adult bald eagles and a juvenile all sharing a salmon on the shore topped off our adventures. Time for me to migrate myself… Back to Maui!
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagles, Cattle Pass, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, Orca whale, san juan island
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Monday, September 5th, 2011
Today was a day of lots and lots of harbor seals! Everywhere! And many of them were lined up like sausage links! Transient orca sausage links!
We first went north towards Waldron Island and found them basking on a nearby rock. Next, we went further north into Canadian waters and found them off of Saturna Island where five of them were lined up in a row. Out by Sentinel Island, we found another thirty or so, with about six babies hauled out along the shoreline in their little “nursery” area. And we even saw several swimming through the many channels we traveled through on our wildlife safari.
But it wasn’t all seal sausages today. We also saw the elusive harbor porpoises off of Turn Point on Stuart Island, the most northwestern point in the continental US! They were milling about and surfacing at random.
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, Saturna Island, Transient Orcas
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Thursday, September 1st, 2011
It warms my heart when I see full grown adults get excited–yelling, pointing, shouting, oohing and aahing–over marine life! ‘Cause I’m one of those adults too!
Today, with no orca reports in the Salish Sea, we headed out on the water with a boat full of curious and eager passengers and lots of hope to see marine life. South from Friday Harbor, we started off with some harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, five of which were lined up side by side like sausage links! Further on at Cattle Pass, we saw a plethora of sea life from gulls of every variety to cormorants (aroma of fecal matter included) to more harbor seals to fifteen or so big Steller sea lions grumbling at one another.
Out of the pass, we had heard, swam a minke and so we went to investigate. After five minutes of searching–with the distraction of sea lions nearby for any short attention spans–the Captain of the Sea Lion spotted the tell-tale curved Minke whale dorsal fin. And another two minutes after that, passengers noticed it too! It appeared a little on the small side–a juvenile perhaps?–and continued swimming in what looked like foraging maneuvers. After twenty minutes of watching, we decided to move on and take our luck around San Juan Island in a circumnavigation.
Along the West side of San Juan Island, we found several harbor porpoises headed south, and at Spieden, we saw bald eagles and non-native Mouflon sheep and fallow deer. With every wave we crested and every splash we saw, our guests were in good spirits, excitedly pointing and telling their neighbors, “Porpoise, there! NO! Over THERE!” Wildlife! It’s wild. It’s life. What’s more exciting?! Well, other than the curious humans shouting about it to each other!
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagles, Cattle Pass, Cattle Point, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, minke whale, Mouflon Sheep, san juan island, Spieden Island
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Saturday, August 27th, 2011
It was easy, maybe too easy, finding killer whales today. We headed up north from Friday Harbor, and just east of Spieden Island we encountered both K and L pods. They were everywhere around us! Breaching, spy hopping, and tail slapping. After watching them for a while, we headed back south towards Cattle Point. We saw harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and a juvenile bald eagle. Then, as we headed back into the harbor we encountered the killer whales again! And they were still being super active! We saw at least six more breaches. I was also able to identify Mega from L-pod. It really was an amazing day!
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cattle Point, friday harbor, Harbor Seals, K Pod, L pod, orca whales, Spieden Island, Steller\'s Sea Lion
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Thursday, August 25th, 2011
After two whole days without orcas around (but with Humpbacks and Minkes!) our residents returned to the sound in full force.
There were lots of animals around on the way up to see the whales: harbor seals, harbor porpoises, and even a bald eagle! As for the whales, there were groups representing all 3 pods up in the area between Stuart and Pender Islands. When we came on scene the whales we were with appeared to be resting.
After about 20 minutes they suddenly turned around and sped up. There were whales everywhere. We were surrounded! As we prepared to leave the area a Humpback appeared, heading north. We had heard about the animal earlier in the day. We kept our distance and didn’t stop to watch the single whale, as it was entangled in fishing gear and there were boats around with the hopes of untangling it from the line.
Finally, on our way back we stopped around Speiden Island to view some mouflon sheep that were moving around right on the rocks near the water.
Laura and Kristen, Naturalists, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, Humpback Whale, minke whale, Mouflon Sheep, orca whales, pender island, Spieden Island, Stuart Island
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Sunday, August 21st, 2011
The reports were that the killer whales were headed far west, out towards the Pacific Ocean. But this gave us a chance to see all the other wildlife the Salish Sea has to offer. So we headed north out of Friday Harbor on our way to Patos Island. On the way we spotted a whole bunch of harbor seals, including pups, hauled out on rocky areas as well as in the water. We then saw a bald eagle, perched overlooking the sea. Plus, this far north we were able to see an amazing view of Mount Baker! There were also a lot of harbor porpoises coming up around the boat both on the way up and back. Finally, right before getting back into the harbor, there was another bald eagle.
Tags: Bald Eagles, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, killer whales, salish sea
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Saturday, August 20th, 2011
These days I hail from Maui, Hawaii and it’s rare for me to say it’s hot in Washington. But today, it was hot! In town. And quite comfortable on the water as well. We traveled out to be next to the Olympic Peninsula and the snow covered mountains; and it was a day of epic weather, water and visibility.
We started our trip headed south from the harbor to some harbor seals lounging on their rocky haul-out. At Cattle Pass, we found their cousins, the stellar or northern sea lions hauled out on their rocky post only these animals were a little grumpy. Several pairs and trios were growling at one another and encouraging each other off the rock and out of the way. There’s something about a ten foot 2,200 pound growling animal that you just don’t want to mess with.
Just north of False Bay on the west side of San Juan Island, we caught up with some zig-zagging orcas! L-pod was cruising around and we were able to identify L-85 “Mystery” with his shorter but wide dorsal fin and comet-shaped saddle patch of white. At one point, we were surrounded by whales on all sides and we just shut down, dropped our hydrophone into the sea and listened to them. We heard lots of orca sounds, from high-pitched squeaks and squawks to whistles and clicks. We discovered that animals from J and K-pods were headed south towards our spot and we eventually saw K-21 “Cappuccino,” a 25-year old mature male. For an endangered species like these southern resident killer whales, it’s always a hopeful feeling to see some of the “big guys,” the mature males, still around doing well, perhaps crusin’ for ladies (as the kids say these days)!
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: friday harbor, Harbor Seals, L pod, Orcas, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Steller\'s Sea Lion
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Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
It was bright and sunny as we headed north out of Friday Harbor. On this trip, the first thing we encountered was harbor seals hauled out on a rocky island. Next we spotted a few killer whale dorsal fins off in the distance. Everyone got excited as we scoped out the area. As the boat turned there was a large pod of orcas, over twenty whales close to each other surfacing and breathing. Then, all of a sudden one breached, then another next to the first one, then a third after the second one, then two whales breached at the same time! It looked like it was coordinated. The whales continued to be super active and playful throughout the time we watched them; spy hopping, tail slapping, lob tailing, and occasionally more breaching! On our way back we spotted more harbor seals and two bald eagles, one of which was sitting on rocks close to the water. Definitely was a perfect trip full of amazing breaching.
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, friday harbor, Harbor Seals, Orcas, san juan island
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Saturday, August 13th, 2011
Something rare occurred today; killer whales surprised us by coming up not only next to our boat, but a couple swam under our boat! Let me start from the beginning… we left Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to see some harbor seals hauled up on rocky areas. We also went around whale rocks to see the steller sea lions that were hauled out, but not only were there some on the rocks, two giant individuals came out of the water, walking up the rocks at the same time!
We then headed around Cattle Point to the west side of San Juan Island. This is where we saw the orcas. There was a small group of three that were close to land. We stopped or boat to watch when one big male changed direction and the next thing we knew he swam right across our bow. I was able to identify him as Blackberry (J27). Then more killer whales started coming to us from both directions. We watched them tail slapping and milling around, and we even saw the new K-calf (K44) with his mother Deadhead (K27). Then, out of nowhere a group of 4 whales went around and under the boat next to us and then two swam under our boat! It was incredible! On the other side when they came up I was able to identify Mike (J26). This was the closest encounter I’ve had!
We then started to head back in, stopping by Long Island to see the Eagle’s nest as well as a bald eagle perched in a tree. What a great summer afternoon.
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cattle Point, friday harbor, Harbor Seals, j pod, K Pod, Long Island, Orcas, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Steller Sea Lions, Whale Rocks
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