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Seabirds and Humpbacks
This day was an exciting day. Our tour went long to see the orca that was late to the party, but we saw so much marine life. We saw Scoters Harlequin Humpbacks & Orca among so much more.
We had seabirds of Rhinoceros Auklet, Surf Scoter, Bald Eagles, among others of the 172 different species of seabirds here in the Salish Sea. The Surf Scoter is a goofy looking bird with their psychedelic colored bill. The Harlequin is just a beautiful duck to observe.
Stellar Sea Lions were present at East Point on Boiling Reef along with Harbor Seals. There was a single Humpback close by called Wendy, so we visited her. I recall a few years ago someone saying she got her name from the foul-smelling breath if you were downwind. She was pretty erratic moving among the tide rips and whirlpools, so we moved on.
Next was another Humpback called Slate who had her month’s old calf with her that she brought back from Mexico. The baby was waving her tail doing headstands, sticking her head out of the water, nursing for a bit and generally just having fun.
You can see throat pleats when she is waving her pectoral fin in the air. When the baby is sticking her head up out of the water, we could see a whole bunch of bumps on her head. Those are hair follicles.
Black and Whites
I received word that Orca was up north of us. Orca or killer whales are refered to as balck and whites. Another cetacean, the Dahls Porpoise are called little black and whites though the markings are different. My guests were up for a more extended tour, so we headed their way. When we arrived, I noticed a Canadian Navy ship coming towards us in the channel. The vessel stopped mid-channel and waited until the whales had moved down channel ahead of them. I think the Navy ship had planned to continue down the same path as the whales, but it took a side route through another channel. Much respect for a ship’s captain who will go out of the planned route to give the whales some space.
The Biggs Killer Whales we view today are the T75B’s, T75C’s, T124A1, T86A1, and T146B
Many Cetaceans around for us today and so much marine life as Scoters Harlequin Humpbacks & Orca.
Check out some of my other photo blog pages at Whale Tales.
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