K's - L's and DoubleDrop - Sea Lions- Spirit of Orca

Two tours today viewing K’s – L’s and DoubleDrop the Humpback. K and L pod were in Haro Strait foraging for salmon. My first tour had two parties both celebrating a birthday and touring with us to see the whales was the gift they wanted to experience.

On the way down we saw Harbor Seals, Steller Sea Lions, Bald Eagles and then the whales. I also shot a few pics of Red Necked Phalarope, a tiny migratory bird that breeds in the Arctic and makes there way down here for the summer. This little bird has reversed sex roles. The females fight each other for mating rights with the male. She will lay the eggs but then the male incubates and raises the brood while the female wanders off to mate and start another brood with another male.

I think the highlight of the day was on the afternoon tour spending time watching L88 Wave Walker chasing down several salmon and contorting his body to catch the salmon.

The humpback we saw today was MMX0006 also known by the name DoubleDrop, but I do not know how he got that name. This is the same whale that I shared so many breach shots of from last week when he just kept going off. You can see those pics in this link I titled Humpback Tour of the Year. I hope you take the time to view this post, it was the most amazing humpback experience I have ever seen.