Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

First things first...

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful mothers out there who raise us to love and appreciate the ocean and all of the amazing things living in it.

We left the harbor as if on a sheet of glass.  It was calm enough to see a ripple a mile away.  We headed north and around toward Battleship Island in search of giants.  The calm seas and lack of wind afforded us a quick and comfortable ride out into Haro Straight.  As soon as we got past Battleship one of our...

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As seen on a Birding Tour Charter May 2011

Happy Birders on the Birding Charter. Guests are from the Tri Cities.

Mature Bald Eagle in its nest

A Bald Eagle Makes A Kill in Mid-Air- Victum is a Glaucous Winged Gull

Palagic Cormorants with Glacous Winged Gulls

Birder with camera closing in on "THE shot"

A Bald Eagle Makes A Kill in Mid-Air- Victum is a Glaucous Winged Gull

Two Bald Eagle with their Glaucous Winged Gull meal

The Tri Cities Birding Group May 7, 2011

Birders and Bird Leader Barb Jensen

Mike Oster, Lead Naturalist and also a Captain.

Today we had a charter for a group of birders which departed at 9:00. Heading south out of Friday Harbor we almost immediately saw: Pelagic Cormorants,  Brandts Cormorants, Double Crested Cormorants.
There were Black Oyster Catchers on Goose Island and also a HARLEQUIN Duck there.
Out at whale rocks we saw a large group of Stellar Sea Lions basking.
There were several Rhinoceros Aucklets and Pigeon Guillemots.
MARBLED MURLETS!!!! Yes, but had it not been for Barb Jensen I dont know if the rest of of us would have spotted them.

Bald eagles were in trees and nest. But the best was when a bald eagle snatched a Glacous Winged Gull out of the air, BAM! and brought it to shore where its mate was waiting. The eagle that caught is, then began cleaning it - feathers flying.

We also saw a pair of Peregrine Falcons - Up in the rock and trees - another Barb spotting. Someone in the group spotted a Harlequin Duck. What a beauty!

About 3 hours later we pulled back in to Friday Harbor. The day was beautiful - blue skies. Not the rain predicted.

Over and out for now,

Colleen, Naturalist

Another beautiful day.  That makes wo in a row!

It was calm enough to head south through Cattle Pass and do an entire circumnavigation of San Juan Island.  Whale rocks was packed with Steller Seal Lions,  Harbor Seals, and Cormorants and as we headed out toward the straight, with the wind at our backs, we decided it would be the perfect day to just keep on going.  We made it all the way around to Henry Island and turned out toward Speiden to try to sneak a peek at some land mammals. ...

Heading south through cattle pass we encountered some Harbor Seals as well as a lone Steller Sea Lion swimming south and playing in the current.  Whale rocks also provided us with some very large male Stellers' maneuvering awkwardly on shore.

We then headed into the middle of Haro strait to try and confirm the rumors of J-pod.  Sure enough, in glassy water with very light wind, we saw two orca cruising at the surface.  They were heading west at a pretty steady pace.  After scanning...

Tuesday brought sunny skies and calm water.  We headed north from Friday Harbor with reports of whales in active pass as well as faint vocalizations around Lime Kiln.  We were trying to decide which way to start our search when we heard confirmed reports of J-Pod off Moresby Island.  As we slowly approached the area the whales came in to view.  The passengers on board were ecstatic!  The pod was spread out into smaller groups.  Some were in way close to shore, while another group of...

We left Friday Harbor with reports of a Minke Whale in Canadian waters.  Under sunny skies and over glassy water we headed west.  As we approached the area of the last sighting we slowed to a stop and shut down the engines.  The passengers spread out along the rails and kept their eyes on the water.  After fifteen minutes of scanning we saw the small whale surface about a quarter of a mile from the boat.

We watched it surface and saw that it was moving east.  We idled parallel at...

It was a beautiful, calm day...the kind of day you just want to drive all the way to Vancouver...but it was worth it.
We heard tale of transients past East Point headed toward the coal docks.  We decided to make an attempt.

By the time we made it to the coal docks there was no turning back, eventhough the whales we still headed NW at a steady clip of 7-10 knots.  Finally another boat came into view.  Then we saw huge splashes.  Finally we caught up to the pod, almost.  They were...

After a few days of overcast skies and strong winds we had a break in the weather!  With calm water and warm sun we headed out for our 1:30pm wildlife watch.  We were lucky enough to encounter some charismatic Bald Eagles right outside the harbor to start things off.  We then cruised up to East Pt. and found four Stellar Sea Lions hauled out on the rocks causing a ruckus.

Entering Haro Strait revealed more calm waters and our first Dall's Porpoise of the season!  There were a few...

What a beautiful day!  Our trip started out sunny and even a little bit warm.  We headed out of the harbor and up past Waldron toward East Point.  A passenger spotted a pair of bald eagles as soon as we were out of the slip and harbor seals were hauled out in full force along out trek up north.  Once we got to East Point we would see and hear a huge group of Stellar Sea Lions.  As we drew in closer we were treated to both Stellars and Harbor seals sharing the rock; although divided...

The season officially started last Saturday with some beautiful days and plentiful Harbor Seals and Stellar Sea lions.  But the real show was today aboard the M/V Sea Lion.  We had reports of J-pod out towards Victoria and heading West into the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  We boarded our passengers a little early and went for it.

The rain was coming down steadily but cleared as we approached Discovery Island.  Pretty soon the whales were up ahead.  Somewhere between 10 and 14 members of...