EncDate: 17/02/21

EncSeq: 1

Enc#: 08

ObservBegin: 10:14 AM

ObservEnd: 11:13 AM

Vessel: Orcinus

Staff: Dave Ellifrit

Other Observers: Katie Jones

Pods: J, K, L

LocationDescr: Haro Strait

Start Latitude: 48 39.39

Start Longitude: 123 12.93

End Latitude: 48 41.88

End Longitude: 123 14.91

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EncSummary:

Jane Cogan called Dave at 0655 to report that they were hearing SR calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophone. Dave then called Katie so she could get ready for a potential encounter. Also, Dave’s car was still stuck in his driveway due to piled icy snow from last weekend’s snowy weather. So, if any encounter was going to happen, Dave needed a ride. Mark later called to say he and Joe were heading out on the Canadian side. A little before 0900, Jane reported that she had spread out whales trickling by their place. Dave called Katie again and she came and picked him up and they headed to Snug Harbor and left in the boat at 0945.
We got word from the SR3 drone team that the trailers had rounded Kellett Bluff about 30 minutes previously. It was sunny but breezy and Haro Strait was pretty lumpy but we were already out so we decided to try to catch up to the whales. We slogged our way through 2-3 footers in a boat whose deck was covered in ice and snow as we headed in the direction of Turn Point. Mark and Joe were also bouncing their way up the Canadian side of Haro Strait just a little ahead of us.
We finally saw our first whales right after Mark, who had better sighting lighting from his angle, told us they were just ahead of us. The encounter started at 1014 about a half mile south of Tiptop Hill on Stuart Island. We saw several peripheral singles and pairs and a larger group inshore. K34 was the first whale we got a good look at and he was traveling with a sprouter who turned out to be L109. We moved in toward the large which was getting larger as some of the peripheral whales joined it. This large group consisted of the bulk of J pod along with all of the L4s and L87. J27 and L87 were part of the group furthest from the boat and those two were taking long dives and not surfacing as much as the others. The J16s were the closest whales and they were doing a good job of running photographic screen for the animals on the other side of them. Due to some back lighting along a dark shoreline and the J16s constantly coming up perfectly in the way of everyone else, it was hard to get an idea of who all exactly was in the group. Oh, and did we mention that we had choppy seas and a boat with a deck covered in ice? We were seeing young calves but it was hard to tell who the mothers were as saddles disappeared behind swells. We were convinced that both J57 and J58 were present but-who was that other calf? We finally got a decent look at it and its mother and it was definitely a new calf coming up next to L86. The calf had a much larger left eyepatch than both J57 and J58. J57 and J58 actually looked larger than the third calf and they are both going through a stage that all young calves go through when their skin has a very mottled appearance. You could still see fetal folds on the new calf and it had a closed saddle with a small finger on the left side. The new calf had filled out some and we estimate its age to be between a month and a month and a half old. L106 was also in close attendance with his mom and new sibling. Interestingly, it was J44 and J47 who were closest to the L86s but they seemed like they may have been more interested in L106 than the new calf. The whales filed past Turn Point around 1055 and entered an even chunkier tide rip in the intersection of Haro Strait and Boundary Pass. L86 and her new calf L125 disappeared in the slop and we ended the encounter at 1013 right near the border with a tight, rolling group consisting of J46, J53, J56, J57, and J58. The whales kept heading north toward Swanson Channel and Mark and Joe continued on the Sequence 2 part of the encounter.