Thursday, October 08, 2015

Aug 20 Pm - Afternoon with Transient Orcas

Aug 20 PM – Afternoon with Transient Orcas (TO10’s)

Killer whales
Transient Orcas (TO10’s)
Bigg's killer whales
Transient Orcas (TO10’s)
This afternoon we had another encounter with Transient Orcas (TO10’s) but not the same group as the morning. This time the Orcas were identified as the TO10’s, a mother and her two sons, and we encountered them north of Mandarte Island. The Mother, T10, was born in 1963, her son TO10B was born in 1983 and her other son, TO10C was born in 1999. This group is frequently seen in the Salish Sea hunting for Harbor Seals and Porpoise. Whilst we were on scene we did see a number of Harbor Porpoise swimming as fast as they could away from the 3 Transients who seemed more interested in hunting Harbor Seals. We did see them make one kill at least close to shore at Comet Island, although most of the action happened below the surface, much to the relief of our passengers, especially those with small children (Transient kills can be gory).
We also got to see many fortunate Harbor Seals that had stayed out of the way of the Transient Orcas as they moved through the area, the Harbor Seals had a look of relief on their faces!
To see more images from this tour click on the link below;

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