Written by Alison
on May 09, 2023

Whale Report: May 3, 2023 – Orca Encounter with the T65As

Whale Report: May 3, 2023 – Orca Encounter with the T65As

May 3, 2023 – We left the dock at 3pm today.  We were excited to be out a little later than planned as the lighting was beautiful, the seas flat calm and whales were near by.  We headed north to see if we could catch up with the T65A’s.  This is a family group Bigg’s (marine mammal eating) killer whales.  We encountered them between Jones and Orcas Islands.  Judging by all of the gulls swarming the whales we realized that they were feeding on a recent kill.  In one of the pictures you will see the tip of a Steller Sea Lion’s flipper sticking out of T65A3, a 16 year old male’s, mouth.  He was feeding with his two younger sisters, T65A4, age 12 and T65A6, age 5.  At one point, if you look closely you will see a big pink chunk of sea lion just under the surface in the 5 year olds mouth.  It was fun to watch them feed with the gulls and at one point 2 Bald Eagles swooping down to grab smaller chunks of meat.  We also put our Hydrophone in the water and got to hear a few calls from these often silent whales.  After a bit these three joined up with their 37 year old mother and their 19 year old brother, T65A2.  We left them as they slowly headed south to go and see what else we could find.  We checked Flat Top Island, a national wildlife refuge where we saw some Harbor Seals and then circumnavigated Spieden Island which is home to exotic big horned sheep, the Mouflons and Fallow Deer.  There were more eagles to watch along the way and then we had a great encounter with loads of Steller Sea Lions at Green Point.  From there we headed for home with another short encounter with the T65A’s as they were passing Friday Harbor.  What a beautiful day in the San Juan Islands!

T65A6 “Callisto”

T65A6 “Callisto” and her mother T65A “Artemis”

T65A3 “Amir” with a sealion flipper

Photographer and Naturalist: Alison Engle – Instagram: @Alisonengleart – Website: www.alisonengle.com

Western Prince Wildlife Adventures – Instagram: @Westernprincewildlife – Facebook: Western Prince Whale Watching

Written by Alison
on May 09, 2023

Whale Report: May 3, 2023 – Orca Encounter with the T65As

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