Another week has flown right by, and here are the sightings recaps for our tours that ran June 29th through July 5th:
As expected, Bigg’s killer whale presence is STILL going strong throughout the central Salish Sea, which provided almost all of our guests the amazing opportunity to encounter them in their wild, natural habitat! While out on tour over the last week, the Bigg’s matrilines (family groups) and roaming males that we encountered included: the T46Bs (who recently split from T46B3s and T46B6) but were traveling a bit with roaming male T49C (7), T46B1s with T46C2 (5), T49A1, T65Bs (4), T75Bs (4), T99s (5), T100s (3), T109As (6), T123s (4), and the “Alaska brothers” T128 and T125A (2). Sometimes these groups were traveling with each other in larger groups, sometimes we encountered family groups that were spread widely in an area. Multiple sightings of the T46Bs, T65Bs, and T100s happened, and were our “most sighted” whales over the last 7 days.
Humpback whales continue to trickle in up the west side of San Juan Island, following Haro Strait north to the Fraser River Delta. We also had MMX0099 “Gretzky” spend a couple days feeding near Deception Pass, and so were able to spend some time watching this whale. As more individuals are arriving to the area, we are sure to see others throughout the season. Gray whale CRC-2702 is also still feeding in Rosario Strait. We are curious if this whale might hang around with us all summer, or when the time will come that they will move on to arctic feeding grounds. Time will tell!
Harbor seal pupping season is definitely happening and we have been seeing more and more small, wrinkly pups. Any time we slow down along rocky areas or island shorelines we are keeping our eyes peeled for these new-to-life little pinnipeds.
Bald eagles, pigeon guillemots, and other alcids like Rhinoceros Auklets have been very prevalent, and some of our alcids have started bringing bill-loads of fish up to the surface. During this time of the year, if they are seen with fish in their bills, they are taking that food back to chicks that have hatched. A cool sight–especially if we have bird enthusiasts on board–as during other times of the year, they are mostly eating those fish beneath the surface.
We’re looking forward to seeing what the next week brings us on the whale and wildlife front and hope you can join us!
