Spring has been heating up on the weather and the whales and wildlife front, so here is a breakdown of what we’ve seen out on tour for the week of April 28th – May 4th:
Bigg’s killer whales that we encountered on tours this past week include: the T19s (3), T23 with t he T23Ds (6), T46Bs (9), T49A1, T49A2 with his buddy T51 (2), the T123s (4), for a total of 25 individuals. The “Double Trouble” aka “Barnes Lake Boys” are still spending some extended time with one another (T49A2 and T51) and it has been a thrill to see these two making their rounds (see the last post for an explanation on their nicknames and the scenario they found themselves in back in September 2023!).
We’ve also seen a small wave of humpbacks show up this past week and we’re excited to see these gentle giants returning to our area. Our Sunday May 3rd trip met FOUR different individuals in one tour– BCX2075 “Olympus,” BCY1276 “Kelpie,” CRC-22909 “Ulli,” and BCX1795 “Scuttle!” MMX0099 “Gretzky” has also still been around, and multiple tours made the pleasure of their acquaintance this week.
A few gray whales are still spending time around the San Juan Islands, but it likely won’t be long until they move out of our area and continue north for their summertime feeding. We hope they’re finding sufficient food while they’re making their Salish Sea “pit stop.”
Our “first of year” Tufted Puffin sightings happened this past week, too, out around one of the last breeding strongholds in the Salish Sea–Smith Island. These little seabirds have made their push inland to find and become reacquainted with their mate and will be busy getting their burrow ready for their one single puffling they’ll raise this season. We watched a pair paddling together, likely some of the first days they’ve spent together since out migrating to the open ocean once breeding season was finished last season.
Occasional sea otter sightings continue to grace several of our trips and are always fun to spot, as they’re also an uncommon species to the inland Salish Sea. We also had one afternoon where we found 50-100 harbor porpoises feeding along an upwelling just west of the Deception Pass area, giving guests an opportunity that doesn’t happen too often
We hope that more humpbacks and Bigg’s killer whales continue to explore our area we’re excited to see what the next week brings us!
