Posts Tagged ‘salish sea’
Saturday, October 8th, 2011
Headed south down the east side of San Juan Island.A single mature bald eagle was spotted up in a tree. We paused to view it, then off it went. We went a bit further south, then stopped a rock outcrop with TONS of Stellars Sea Lions. Lounging, posturing, snoozing, swimming. They where piled up with scads of cormorants and a variety of gulls. You could smell that these animals were all fish eaters. (Hey, watch it, I kinda like that fragrance!) The boat sat with the engine off and twirled in the current. Pretty cool right at that spot in the water.
50/50 chance of seeing whales is what I gave it. BUT . . . It was a WHALE day for sure. We were on the west side of San Juan Island south of Lime Kiln, north of False Bay, about a mile from shore. A single male resident orca surfaced. Solo. We could not see any other whales for quite some time. The boat moved further north, then we began to see what looked like two females. While sitting with the engine off, after about 20 mintues, a female off our bow start slapping her pectoral fin. Over and over.she slapped. Almost as if waving to us. She kept this up for several minutes. I am not sure just how many orcas there were. They were all very s p r e a d out. None were breaching. None were surfacing. It seemed like heavy duty prey finding.
There was a report of Humpback whales 3 miles from us - closer to Canada. Off we went. There were a few other boats already on scene. Two humpbacks were swimming side by side in sync with each others movements. Another whale was solo. I kept expecting a fluke. Sure enough, when I was not looking, Shelly saw the tail. We stayed with these whales about 20 minutes. Then we turned and started homeward – southish. The orcas were still in the same area. Stilled looked like fishing and eating mode to me.
What a great “Tail End of the Season tour this was!
Naturalist, Colleen Johansen
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cattle Pass, friday harbor, Harbor Seal, Humpback Whale, j pod, K Pod, Lopez Island, Orca whale, orca whales, salish sea, san juan island, seattle whale watching, Southern Resident Killer Whales, whale watching near seattle, whale watching tour
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Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
Yes, we saw orca whales today on the 2nd of October – late in the whale watching season. We took off from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island heading north toward Spieden Island. As we neared Speiden, one of the guests spotted a large brown head which turned out to be a great big stellar sea lion fishing by himself. We stayed on the south side of Speiden and Shelly spotted a mature bald eagle up in a tree. Down below the Mouflon Sheep and Sitka Deer were roaming about.
We pushed on to Haro Strait and started south down Henry Island to the west side of San Juan Island. We were a bit south of Kellet’s Buff and north of Lime Kiln Point when orca whales came into view. It was part of L pod that we were viewing. We sat for about 40 minutes watching the orca pursuing fish. Surfacing for air, switching directions back and forth the whales this up the entire time we sat there. Capt. Mike put down the hydrophone and there was some whale calls that could be heard. Light calling – not a lot.
As we headed further south on the west side, some Dall’s porpoise started riding our bow. Brief, but what a treat. As the water was gliding I by, I screamed out “loon!” and sure enough it was. Then at the southern tip of the island I spotted a BROWN Pelican in a raft of sea birds. Brown pelican may be common where you are from, but they are a bit of a rarity here in the islands. Near Lopez Island, we stopped at a large rock outcropping to view at least 30 stellar sea lion, what seemed like hundreds of cormorants and gulls. One could definitely smell these animals prior to actually seeing them.
What made this trip so enjoyable for me was that every guest on the boat seemed interested in anything Shelly or I could tell them about the area, birds, trees and wildlife.
This is the last daily tour of the season for us and what a trip it was.
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, Haro Strait, L pod, Lopez Island, Mouflon Sheep, Orca whale, orca whales, Orcas, salish sea, san juan island, seattle whale watching, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island, Steller\'s Sea Lion, Strait of Juan de Fuca, whale watching near seattle, whale watching tour
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Monday, August 22nd, 2011
It wasn’t exactly the nicest day on San Juan Island, but having it rain did not prevent us from going out and seeing the wildlife the Salish Sea has to offer. We first saw a bald eagle perched in a dead looking tree. Then, we saw some whales I haven’t seen for over two months…transients! There were four of them, traveling very quickly, their dorsal fins waving in front of us. It was the T-19 group, and I love seeing the transients because they are really the coolest, top predator of the sea! After spending time with them we headed back to Friday Harbor, taking a scenic route around Orcas Island. Through this area we spotted another bald eagle, as well as a blue heron, some harbor seals, and a few harbor porpoises. This rainy day definitely did not keep any of the wild life away.
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagles, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, salish sea, san juan island, Transient Orcas
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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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Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
Wildlife abounds in the San Juan Islands, but only if you like bald eagles. And harbor seals. Oh, and Stellar sea lions. And minke whales, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, common murres, cormorants, turkey vultures, mouflon sheep, black-tailed deer, fallow deer, sika deer, and maybe some bald eagles and vultures fighting over shreds from a dead-and-beached harbor seal carcass. But only if you’re into all that!
From Friday Harbor, we got the call of vultures and bald eagles fighting over the tidally-beached carcass of a seal off Shaw Island. We love gruesome and feeding (especially gruesome feeding or feeding on gruesome) and went a-searching for it. Along Spieden and Sentinel Islands, we saw mouflon sheep, sika and fallow deer, a stoic bald eagle and plump warming harbor seals. As we came around the west side of San Juan Island, we spotted a cacophony of sea birds and right among them, two minke whales surfaced! After watching these two whales feeding for about twenty minutes, we came along Whale Rocks to see stellar sea lions. And they were making a racket! One jumped in the water and then tried to crawl back out to his “spot.” The new owner of the coveted spot (another big male sea lion) bared teeth and made grumpy sea lion sounds. After five minutes of sea lion spit in his face, the original vacate-er jumped back in and swam around to challenge another male. Finally, he won the spot but then decided it wasn’t worth it and jumped back in the frigid northwest waters after the usurped male. Maybe he just wanted a fishing buddy.
Another fine day on the Salish Sea.
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, friday harbor, Harbor Seal, minke whale, Mouflon Sheep, salish sea
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Saturday, July 30th, 2011
A group of killer whales that were hugging the coastline came into sight as we rounded the southwestern end of Henry Island. Cappuccino (K-21), one of the mature males of K pod, was spotted with his open saddle patch. Within the first ten minutes two mature orcas spyhopped, bringing half of their bodies above the surface, and there were a few lobtails from the juveniles. Then all activity ceased as they slipped into resting with a typical tight, slow moving formation. The mood was tranquil as dorsal fins of all shapes and sizes broke the surface in unison and the orcas took a lingering breath before sinking back into the Salish Sea.
Resting, or unihemispheric slow wave sleep (USWS), is when only one of the cerebral hemispheres engages in sleeping and one eye remains open. This form of sleep occurs in all the species within the Cetacea order, along with various marine mammals and birds.
Kirsten, naturalist
Tags: henry island, K Pod, Lobtail, Resting, salish sea, San Juan Safaris, Spyhop, unihemispheric slow wave sleep (USWS)
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Friday, July 22nd, 2011
We headed north out of Friday Harbor this afternoon in search of any and all wildlife that lives in or around the Salish Sea. Our first encounter came when we slowed and went across Spieden Island where there was wildlife from the shore line to the sky. First we noticed harbor seals that were hauled out on the narrow shoreline. Then looking up, we saw mouflon sheep and fallow and sitka deer along the grassy hill tops. Finally, in the sky was a lone bald eagle in all its glory; wings fully extended and soaring above the tree tops.
It didn’t take much longer until we saw the first signs of killer whales; spouts were up ahead! Then dorsal fins! After watching for a few minutes we realized that there were a lot of whales, twenty plus, milling around in very close proximity to one another. It looked like there were members from both J and K pod in the group, and there was a very small, orange calf that didn’t look like K44! (new calf possibly?!).
After spending our time with the whales we headed back to San Juan Island. On the way we stopped by turn point near the lighthouse where we encountered a few harbor porpoises and we were also able to stop and view some more harbor seals that were hauled out on rocks. It was a very exciting day!
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Fallow Deer, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, j pod, K Pod, killer whales, Mouflon Sheep, salish sea, san juan islands, Turn Point
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Monday, July 18th, 2011
We started seeing the dorsal fins of K pod after exiting the Speiden Channel and spotted Deadhead (K-27) with her new son (K-44). The boy is her first offspring and he will remain unnamed until after he has survived a winter and is officially considered part of the pod. Researchers do this because of the alarming fact that only around half of the calves survive the first year of life. The first-born calf has an even lower survival rate which is believed to be partially due to the large amount of toxins they receive through the milk. The organic toxin Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is extremely concentrated in the orcas of the Salish Sea with the transients having the highest levels recorded in any marine mammal. PCBs are soluble in fats so they are found in high doses in the fat-rich milk of mothers. A female unloads a huge portion of the toxins she accumulated throughout her life onto her first child, with subsequent calves receiving much less of the chemicals. With hopeful thoughts of this little ones future, we watched him lobtail next to the cliffs and lighthouse of Stuart Island while the sun warmed the scene.
Kirsten, naturalist
Tags: Deadhead (K-27), K Pod, K-44, killer whales, orca whales, PCB, salish sea, Stuart Island, toxins, Transient Orcas, whale watching tour
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Saturday, July 2nd, 2011
Today was sunny, warm, and absolutely beautiful as we left Friday Harbor in search of the wildlife that calls the Salish Sea home. On our way out we spotted several harbor porpoises in all different directions from the boat. We also stopped to watch some harbor seals that were not only hauled out on rocks, but were swimming around and poking their heads out watching us watch them. Not too long after we found the big guys; killer whales were off in the distance! We watched some younger juveniles lob-tailing and a group of four swim eloquently by. Then, in another direction a single large male dorsal fin sliced through the water attracting everyone’s attention. A few moments later, out of nowhere he was joined by another male, and they made their way across the sea.
After watching the killer whales for a while we went in search of minke whales that were reported nearby. We could see flocks of sea birds on and over the water up a head and as we neared closer the small dorsal of a minke whale came out of the water. It was an amazing site. On the way back in, we caught up with the two male killer whales again and stalled to watch them for a while longer. Then we headed back into the harbor enjoying the view of Mt. Baker in the distance. What a great day!
~Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, minke whales, mt baker, Orca whale, Orcas, salish sea
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Saturday, September 25th, 2010
When you cover as much water as we do in a week, it is easy to feel proprietary about the islands and creatures found therein. We all feel like we know and own the orcas, trees and birds. We even feel a fondness for the slimy spineless creatures, and who wouldn’t when they make up most of the biomass (living bulk) of the ocean? So, the orcas are fabulous and I could not be happier that we have been continuing to see them everyday, but I think that the invertebrates need some love too. This is my ode to them.
Moon Jellyfish. Photo courtesy of m_stephens
Cross Jellyfish. Photo courtesy of BiodiversityGuy
Since the all consuming category of invertebrates is way too large to cover in just one short blog, I am going to pay particular homage to the Cnidarians (ni-DARE-ee-ans). This complex group of animals includes the mysterious and beautiful jellyfish. As with all of the other creatures found in this phylum jellyfish have the ability to sting, sometimes fatally so. The other stinging animals in the phylum are sea anemones, corals and hydra (no not the mythological monster). It is the ability to sting, and the cells associated with that power, that gave the phylum its name. Cnidocytes (ni-doe-SITES) are cool little mechanisms of chemical engineering that shoot out stingers that can burn and kill if you are the right kind of food or an unlucky swimmer. Not all cnidarians are dangerous though. It is completely possible to touch an anemone without anything happening other than feeling like the tentacles are stuck on your finger. There are also many corals that will just scratch without causing horrible burning and some jellyfish can be held in your hand without any untoward affects at all.
Lion's Mane Jellyfish. Photo courtesy of BiodiversityGuy
Egg Yolk Jellyfish. Photo courtesy of Scubaboard.com
In the San Juan Islands there are four types of jellyfish that are readily seen. Two small species can be seen floating in the harbors around the docks and pilings. Two larger species, one of which is the largest in the world, are more easily seen out in open water from a boat or kayak or while diving. Moon jellies are recognized by the four-leaf clover pattern that shines through their bell, the curved top part, and cross jellies have just what their name suggests, a bright white “X” that crosses their bell. Lion’s mane jellies are the largest in the world and are known by their deep russet coloration. Here in the Salish Sea we do not get exceptionally large ones like they do on the East Coast, with the largest ones recorded having bells that were more than 6 feet across with tentacles that reaching 100 feet in length. Finally, egg yolk jellies also look just like their name suggests, a raw egg that has been broken open with the yolk and whites exposed. It is the lion’s mane and egg yolk jellies that divers and kayakers have to be aware of while in the water. These jellyfish have the long hanging tentacles that carry very strong stinging cells. The small moon and cross jellies have simple, short fringe-like tentacles along the edge of their bells and are not potent enough to harm humans. The potency of the lion’s mane jellyfish is so well known in England, that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featured it as the killer in the Sherlock Holmes tale “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane”.
So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you out there with a painfully stinging wit, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
Tags: Cross Jellyfish, Egg Yolk Jellyfish, friday harbor, Lion's Mane Jellyfish, Moon Jellyfish, Orcas, salish sea, san juan islands, San Juan Safaris
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