Got the message from MMRG (Ron) that transients were eastbound a couple of miles south of Victoria. 2 groups were in the area, including 1 further south about 5 miles from Victoria. I waited patiently with binoculars and a high powered lens but didn’t see anything. Finally about after half an hour, a small group of orcas (approximately 3 transients or mammal eating orcas) came into view, they were alone. It wasn’t long before a boat was on scene (Ken of CWR) and was with them for about a half an hour. The animals must have been feeding as they were stationary in the strait for sometime. Eventually they headed eastward and came closer to my view. Even though they were quite far, it’s epic to see them amongst their vast surroundings, such an impressive sight to behold. A small crowd gathered upon the hill, and thankfully a fisherman arrived with a VHF. We could hear the radio chatter between Mark Malleson (Mallard of DFO, CWR on his sail boat) and Jim Maya of Westside Charters the only whale watching boat on scene. They were observing a different group of animals then I was. I quickly gave a call to Ron letting him know the location of the group I was observing, who soon floated out of sight, on the south side of Trial Island. It might be the last sighting of an orca I will have for sometime.
December, 2009
8
Dec 09
U38 and U39
At about 3:00 pm today I watched 2 large male killer whales (U38 and U39) from Dallas Rd in Victoria. I saw them pass in front of the Canadian Navy ship which makes for a nice photo. Then saw “Mallard” CWR / DFO on scene documenting the two transients. I noticed the animals went down on a very long dive because I didn’t see anything after a while. My guess is they were in predation mode as the research boat remained on scene and attentive. After getting a coffee to warm up my freezing hands, I changed my location and returned to find the animals and the research boat further away towards the Metchosin shoreline. Thanks to Ron MMRG for the heads up.
Please note: I found on the old Center for Whale Research site that there are 14 transient pods:E,F,M,O,N,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,X,Y,Z
Chelsea Stanley, a biologist for DFO states;
U’s are KW’s whose ecotype is unknown. They are not given an ecotype until they are seen associated with a group with a known ecotype at least twice. I think they suspect most of them are transient-type.
Please view the comment by Jared Towers as he talks more about these two interesting individuals.
