Here is another weekly recap of the whales and wildlife that we encountered while out on tours from August 17th through August 23rd. We experienced some milder weather AND some fog-free days over the past week which made for exceptional conditions while out on the water. There is a small hint of fall in the air that has seemed to come early. It will be interesting to see if it continues into next week. Overall, we have had some great tours and great looks at wildlife and whales.
A couple of Bigg’s killer whale families that we haven’t seen in a while made their way back into the central Salish Sea, so we had a much bigger count on individuals sighted over the last 7 days, Bigg’s killer whales seen on our trips include: the T19 trio, T35As (6), T36As including the T36A1s (7), T37A with her son T37A2 (2), the T46 siblings (3), T49As (6), T63 “Chainsaw” and his mom T65 “Whidbey” (2), T65A5 (who also spent some time traveling with the T36A1s), the T99s traveling with T37A4 (6), the T100 trio, and the T109A family group (6). That makes for a whopping 45 individuals!
A notable encounter was a “T-Party” that we were lucky enough to find up north in the Strait of Georgia. During this encounter, the T35As, T36As, T49As, T63 + T65, and the T100s were all together getting lots of social time in. This is a RARE treat that is always amazing to witness. There were so many little orcas under the age of 4 in this group and they generated a lot of the energy and fun during our encounter.
For our trips, it was a little lean on the baleen whale front this last week. Partly due to nearby orcas and other abundant wildlife. We had two juvenile humpback whales that never did fluke for us to see the markings on the underside of their tails, so remain “unidentified.” They’re out there feeding but have been spread out west of Victoria and up off the Fraser River Delta. We’ll see what we spy this next week!
Other notable wildlife sightings this week: the single sea otter continues to be sighted out near San Juan Island; we made a few trips out to Smith Island where we were lucky enough to see Tufted Puffins and the RARE Horned Puffin, as well. More and more seabird fledglings are being spotted (and heard) as they beg their parents for food. It’s beginning to feel a lot like fall around here, so it will be interesting to see what other birds may start to arrive to get settled in to spend winter here.
As always, we look forward to seeing what next week has to offer us!
