Tag Archives: Orca

Census and orca

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Orca: 2
Two transient orcas were spotted this morning travelling westwards between Great Race and Middle Race. A number of whale watching boats were in pursuit.
Elephant Seal: 3
Misery has been hauled up behind the boathouse for several days now, while Bertha is beside the fuel hose container. A small, young elly is NW of the Science House. She has a green tag that reads 4252 in her flipper.

Sad to report our first neck ring sighting this year. A juvenile California sea lion was hauled out with a group of ~9 other sea lions; its neck was constricted and lacerated by a ring of marine garbage. Given the numbers of California sea lions spotted here so far this season, this sighting fits the 1-2% entanglement rate observed here last fall.

Orcas outside

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‘Orca’, 10, ‘There is something particularly special about sitting down at the kitchen table and literally hearing the whales outside. I ”ve been on the water before and heard the the heavy exhalations of a whale before spotting it, but to be on land inside a building is something else entirely. The group of 10 or more orcas were traveling N along the E edge of the reserve towards Victoria. There were two adult bulls, one with a very tattered dorsal fin. They were quite active, with some whales doing back flips and swimming upside down, flopping their tails on the surface.’,

‘Ryan’, ’14:31:09 ,

Transient orcas through the reserve.

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Orca: 5, ‘The group of transients that has been in the area over the weekend came by the reserve in a near carbon copy of their Sunday route. The large male breached once while in the SE end of the reserve and 2-3 times S of the reserve. The group spent about 20 minutes criss-crossing around SE rocks in apparent feeding behaviour -tail slaps, etc.).’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:45:23 ,

Elephant Seal’, 7, ‘5 females were seen hauled out on Middle Rocks; they ranged from small juveniles to large adults. They join the 2 small females here on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:04:03 ,

Two Orca groups

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Orca’, 2, ‘2-3 miles E of the reserve traveling south. Had boats from Washington, Vancouver and Victoria in pursuit.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:11:46 ,
‘Orca’, 8, ‘About 30 minutes after the first group, these whales came through Race Passage and into the N part of the reserve heading E. Moving as two loose groups, I counted 2 males, 4-5 females and 2-3 calves.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:14:03 ,

Orcas spye-hop

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Orca’, 3, ‘A large male and what appeared to be two females entered the reserve from the West and spent time moving back and forth in the general area between West Race and Middle Rocks. The engineers and painters were here with Erik and we were treated to a spy-hop before they went through the channel in front of the jetty and moved E towards Victoria.’, ‘Ryan’