Over 15 Transient Orcas near Victoria!! April 11th, 2010.

Here are a few images from todays spectacular encounter with over 15 Transient Orcas, including T14, T30's and the T100's!! We first received a report this morning that a lone male Orca had been sighted at Constance Bank heading West. By the time the Orca was next discovered he had traveled as far as Race Passage and was soon identified as T14 "Pender".

As our vessel FastCat headed out for a 2pm tour T14 was reported to have traveled as far as Becher Bay. However, as we arrived on scene T14 had made a sudden dramatic direction change as was in mid strait heading south East. We soon realized why Pender had changed direction as we started to see multiple blows and we realized we had encountered over 15 Transient Orcas, including the T100's:) What a magnificent surprise to find so many Transient Orcas in the Strait of Juan De Fuca and they were making for Race Rocks!

We followed the Orcas at a safe distance for a while before heading to Race Rocks to show our excited passengers Stellar Sealions, Harbour Seals, a lone River Otter, a Bald Eagle and at five Northern Elephant Seals. Race Rocks is one of my favorite places to visit on the southern coast of Vancouver Island.

Next we headed back to the Transient Orcas who had now split into two different groups and were continuing to head East towards Race Rocks. After following them for a while we left the T100's a little South East of Race Rocks and then we headed home.

What a wonderful day on the water and the perfect example of the amazing wildlife that can be found in the Salish Sea! You can see more pictures from todays tour by visiting our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Victoria-BC/Five-Star-Whale-Watching/83152127193?ref=ts

7 Transient Orcas near Bird Rock! April 10th, 2010.

Photo courtesy of Jeanne Hyde!

Today was a very magical day on the water with 7 Transient Orcas, including T87 and T14, near Bird Rocks. We first got reports of these Orcas at 10.00am and and amazingly the Transients hardly moved from the same spot all day, they seemed to be having a feeding frenzy!

Our vessel Fastcat headed out at 2.00pm with a full load of excited passengers eager to see these magnificent apex predators and they were not to be disappointed:) Whilst on scene the crew noticed signs of kills and foraging. The prey included a Sealion, which the Orcas would have hunted cooperatively.

With the sun shining it was a wonderful day to be on the water!

Spring Wildlife Adventure! April 9, 2010.

Yellow Bellied Marmot

Here are just a few images from todays exciting Spring Wildlife Adventure!

We headed out this afternoon into blustery conditions in the Strait Of Juan De Fuca on a beautiful Spring Day! During our tour we saw at leas 4 Bald Eagles, a dozen Steller Sealions, 4 Northern Elephant Seals and a large number of Harbour Seals.

Our passengers also got to see the dead Grey Whale that was washed ashore during a recent storm. The whale has attracted a lot of visitors from the local community wanting to get a close look at this large baleen whale.

TUESDAY, April 6, 2010, Transient Killer Whales near Becher Bay, not far from Beached Grey Whale

TUESDAY, April 6, 2010, Transient Killer Whales near Becher Bay, not far from Beached Grey Whale

That makes us 5 out of 6 trips for seeing Killer Whales, amazing for this early in the season!

Add Race Rocks Ecological Reserve and its many bird species, Harbour Seals, Steller Sea Lions and Elephant Seals and this was yet another wonderful day.

These Transient (Marine-Mammal-Eating) Killer Whales were successfully hunting and feed: How do we know this when we never saw the prey? Note all the birds, mostly Glaucous Wing Gulls and Western Gulls, swooping down to pick up stray bits of seal, sea lion or porpoise flesh!

Monday, April 5, 2010 Transient Killer Whales, Elephant Seals, Steller Sea Lions & Beached Grey Whale

Monday, April 5, 2010 Transient Killer Whales, Elephant Seals, Steller Sea Lions & Beached Grey Whale

As always, Five Star Whale Watching headed out to search for as wide a variety of marine wildlife as possible. Showing our passengers the tremendous range in species and size of creatures encountered by those of us who are fortunate enough to live here allows us to explain that none of this would be possible without a vibrant, diverse ecosystem.

The health of that ecosystem supports prey of every size (From Krill & Shrimp to Humpback calves) and that in turn attracts predators ranging from herring to salmon, seals to seal lions & elephant seals, porpoise to whales.

The Apex Predator, the top of the Food Chain in all Oceans, is the Transient (Marine-Mammal-Eating) Killer Whale. And Five Star Whale Watching's passengers saw some today!

Here are pictures of just some of what we saw today, amid the turbulent waters as a Southeast wind and flood tide hitting underwater sea mounts created upwelling that brought even more oxygen, food and nutrients to the surface. It is nice to know that the sometimes bumpy ride that this process causes for human visitors was not in vain!

Here is a backgrounder to the Grey Whale seen in the attached photo:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/05/bc-beached-whale-sooke.html

"A dead grey whale found beached near Victoria could prove to be a valuable specimen for researchers, says a marine scientist from the area.

The nine-metre whale, which is a protected species, was discovered Sunday on the shore in Sooke, on the west side of Vancouver Island.

It's still not clear why the whale became beached or why it died.

Determining the cause of death can give researchers a good indication of the species' overall health, said Laura Verhegge, a marine scientist at Pearson College in Victoria."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/05/bc-beached-whale-sooke.html#ixzz0kHUi62b3

Monday, April 5, 2010: Yellow-Bellied Marmot Returns!!

Monday, April 5, 2010: Yellow-Bellied Marmot Returns!!

Like any good newpaper writer, the above headline is very misleading.

The Yellow-bellied Marmot that took up residence on the lawn and in the gardens of The Fairmont Empress Hotel in the Fall of 2008 has returned... Again! (Actually, he has probably been hibernating for a second Winter in Victoria and has just reappeared for Spring).

Why is he special? Well, Yellow-bellied Marmots don't usually live in Victoria or even on Vancouver Island, so he probably hitched a ride on a Transport Truck from the Rocky Mountains.

Yellow-bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris), also known as the Rock Chuck, is a ground squirrel.. It lives in the Western US and southwestern Canada. Yellow-bellied Marmots usually weigh between 5 and 11 pounds (2 and 5 kg) when fully grown. It inhabits steppes, meadows, talus fields and other open habitats, sometimes on the edge of deciduous or coniferous forests, and typically above 6,500 feet (2,000 m) of elevation. DOESN'T HE REALIZE THAT HE SHOULD NOT BE HERE, AT SEA LEVEL?