5-20-14 Those Sly T10s

Tuesday, May 20th
...over the last several days it's been interesting...
...while on Maya's Westside Charters looking at some Steller sea lions at Whale Rocks, not far from us Dan of Orcas Island Eclipse Charters spotted a minke whale at Salmon Bank...

...at first look this Steller sea lion's coat looks strange, but it's the angle and his coat is drying...

......though the Stellers are starting to leave the area now, there were still several...and that one little guy and the bald eagle too...

...speaking of bald eagles...there is concern for their well being due to the lack of salmon in these waters...it's not only the whales who have no food in these waters - at this time - it also affects the eagles and other wildlife...
...the eagles I've been seeing getting food...well whatever they have in their talons after a sweep across the surface, is so small you can hardly see what they got...I caught a picture of one eagle today...look at what it had...slim pickins I'd say...it's pretty out of focus, but hopefully you can get the idea of it...we were zooming on our way to see orca...

...I'm more accustomed to seeing river otters eating these things than bald eagles...
...on a different trip we had a pair of eagles who seemed to be enjoying the sunny day...

...we hope to soon be seeing some eaglets sticking their heads up...

...and after four days of no orca - whales!...west of Race Rocks coming in...of course I'm hoping that soon, one of these days, it will be the Southern Residents and they will be coming in with lots of salmon...I'll continue to hope that until they do...
...it was some Ts...T103...who travels alone most of the time...was up ahead of the T10s by about a mile or so...I think T103 stays out in Juan de Fuca instead of coming over toward San Juan Island...and just like that he disappeared off Victoria...

...and then we went to see the T10s...a family of three...

...an interesting view...

...they can be very sly when they make a kill - like today... by late afternoon they were entering Haro Strait...

...they headed up, way over on the Vancouver Island side...the whales had spread out a bit - looked like they were in hunt mode...a direction change...but then not much...and they seemed to continue on...
...however...they had been sly......if I hadn't gotten this picture I would not have known if they made a kill or not

...and on they went...

...always a great day on the water and extra special when we get to see orca!