Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | September 18th, 2026 | 12:30 pm
Today’s trip brought us to a familiar family of Bigg’s Killer Whales that I’ve been waiting to see for a while! When we left the dock, we had a few distant rumors of whale reports in different areas. We decided to head northwest towards a report of 4 killer whales that had been found closer to Sidney, BC. We journeyed north to Spieden Channel, but didn’t make any stops as to get further towards our whale report. There was a bit of fog in the Haro, but we were not deterred! As we neared Sidney and D’Arcy Islands, we slowed our speed to begin searching for black dorsal fins.. A matriline of 4 Bigg’s were in the area, and we soon saw the familiar dorsals of the T65Bs! I haven’t seen this group much this summer, so it was amazing to see them again and watch what they were up to today. At first they were travelling slowly north, and then made a few small changes in direction before committing to some fast travel back south towards D’Arcy. I wondered if they were thinking about grabbing a meal in the shallows, especially when they went in close to the shoreline and meandered back and forth. They continued travelling south however, so we enjoyed some last looks at the whole family surfacing close together. The oldest son T65B1 Birdsall is already so big and still has some growing to do, and I’m excited to see how his two younger brothers continue to change over the coming years. T65B herself, Chunk, is one of my favorite matriarchs to see, so it was a pleasure seeing her and her sons today in the Haro Strait.
We continued back north towards Spieden Island to search for other wildlife. This ended up being an exceptionally great day searching, as we got to see lots of Fallow Deer and some large rams in the Moufflon Sheep herds. We even saw some vultures eating a carcass of a ram… Definitely a bit morbid, but amazing to see this activity! A bald eagle was sitting in the area as well, likely waiting for its chance to get at the carcass. We saw numerous harbor seals along the shoreline as well, and as we were scanning for any others we spotted a group of Harlequin Ducks! I love this change of the seasons as we get to see new bird species returning for the fall/winter, and this was the most males I had ever seen together! Their unique color pattern is so beautiful, and I’m excited to watch more of these changes in the coming weeks. We continued from here back to San Juan Channel and eventually Friday Harbor. Check out our photo page to see all this wildlife!
Want to see more photos from our trips? Visit our SmugMug page at: https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/
More information about the Pacific Whale Watch Association: https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/