Early this morning my friend called to offer me to join her on a drive up the west coast of Vancouver Island to Sheringham Lighthouse to scan for marine mammals, especially killer whales (Orcinus orca), cruising through the strait of Juan De Fuca. The first time she took me to visit the Sheringham Lighthouse and scan for whales was June 15 last year, when shortly after we arrived, we observed members of L pod of the southern resident killer whales swimming less than 100 m past the point! It was awesome...and now that I knew about this great land based spotting location I was keen to have a similar experience again today!
We drove along Highway 14, which is part of the Pacific Marine Circle Route, on the winding road that runs past Sooke along the west coast of Vancouver Island to Sheringham Point Lighthouse and beyond to Port Renfrew. We spent nearly an hour searching for marine mammals in the strait. Despite putting in a good amount of effort scanning the waters with naked eye and binoculars, we were not fortunate enough to observe killer whales again. We weren't too disappointed though because both of us have observed marine mammals in the area for 2+ decades and we knew they will be back another day.
Although we didn't observe any killer whales we did see what appeared to be humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) blows way across the strait which were nicely highlighted by the low afternoon sun shining across the strait. As well, a fun group of three Steller sea lions (Eumatopias jubatus) swam by the lighthouse and we also some gulls and a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Even when there aren't killer whales here there are usually a few other species around to enjoy while exploring the west coast of Vancouver Island :)
 |
| Steller sea lions (Eumatopias jubatus) |
 |
| Steller sea lions (Eumatopias jubatus) |
 |
| Steller sea lions (Eumatopias jubatus) |
 |
| Glaucous-Winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) in winter plumage |
 |
| Glaucous-Winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) in winter plumage |
 |
| Glaucous-Winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) in winter plumage |
No comments:
Post a Comment