Sightings Report: T137s October 8th, 2021
Date: Friday, October 8th, 2021
Location: Lighthouse Park, Mukilteo, Washington
Weather: Sunny 55 degrees Farenheight with 3mph winds from WNW
Tide: Low Tide
Pods/Matrilines: T137s
Total Whale Count: 4
Behaviors: Traveling and hunting
Boat Count: 6 (2 whale watch boats, 2 recreational boats, 1 tug boat)
Another beautiful day in Western Washington! And even better, whales close to home! We got reports of the T137s traveling north, and Tamara from Orca Conservancy was able to intercept them at the Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo for some shore-based whale watching.
The T137s are a part of the Transient/Bigg’s (mammal-eating) killer whale population and consist of 4 individuals: T137 “Loon” (37-year-old female) and her offspring T137A “Jack: (19-year-old male), T137B “Tempest” (15-year-old female), and T137D “Wright” (9-year-old female).
Prior to the arrival of the T137s, we observed quite a lot of pinnipeds in the area, such as harbor seals and California sea lions, which are all prey to our Transient/Bigg’s orcas, so we suspected there would be some hunting going on. When the T137s entered into our sight they were about mid-channel where they appeared to be displaying hunting and foraging behaviors. After that point, they began to travel northwest towards the Whidbey Island side and were spotted at the Clinton Ferry terminal. They continued to trend northwest, at which point we were no longer able to see them, but reports indicated they continued on into Saratoga Passage.
The T37s often do what we call the “Puget Sound Shuffle” where they will spend a few days, or even weeks, traveling back and forth from as far south as Olympia all the way up towards Pen Cove off of Whidbey Island in Saratoga passage. On an interesting note, we first noticed this Puget Sound Shuffle travel pattern with the T065As, who spend much of their time in Puget Sound and are known as the “resident transients. From our records of tracking the orcas (we will need to confirm with other documented sightings) we noticed that in the summer of 2020 the T137s were often seen traveling with the T65As, and since that time the T137s have been frequent visitors to these waters.
We are beginning to speculate if the T65As have communicated with or shown the T137s this area, prompting them to visit often as an established hunting ground. What’s more, is that at the end of August we encountered a T-Party with a variety of matrilines including the T65As and the T018s, then a few days later we saw the T65As and the T018s travel into Puget Sound. This is especially exciting because prior to that encounter, the T18s had never been documented in that area. We also heard reports of the T123s traveling into Puget Sound, traveling down to Tacoma, which is the first time this matrilineal had also been seen in the area. It’s quite possible that with the healthy pinniped population these family groups are exploring the area more, but we also speculate if they are sharing information with one another. It will be quite interesting to observe these travel and grouping patterns.
During this encounter, there were only a few boats on the scene, including two whale watch vessels (Puget Sound Express who staggered their presence so only one was there at a time), two private vessels (one stayed with the orcas the entire encounter), and a large tug boat passing through. The Washington State Ferries were notified of the presence of the orcas and they waited for the orcas to pass and gave a wide berth. All vessels remained over 300 yards distance and followed Whale Wise guidelines. No research enforcement vessels were present.
Please note that our videos and photos are taken with high-powered lenses that can distort distances causing whales to appear much closer than they actually are.
