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Saturday's (2-1) trip to Marina Park to look for the resident Pt. Edwards eagles yielded something unexpected: some orcas off the beach. I have lived in Edmonds since 1991 and it was only the second time I have seen orcas. A lady watching from Orca Watch said there were four whales, all transients. I only saw two at any one time.
She said this was a male and was readily identifiable by what looked like a chunk taken out of its dorsal fin.
Looks like some bite marks on its left fluke as well.
I am assuming this smaller one is a female or juvie.
Our resident Puget Sound orcas (pods J, K, and L) eat only salmon. The seal in the lower right corner is in big trouble as transients eat seals.
Thursday (4/10/14) I got a call from Janine that a pod of transient orcas was swimming south through Puget Sound. I dragged my 7D + 4.0/500L telephoto + 1.4 TC mounted on a tripod out to the fishing pier at the Edmonds Marina. With the 7D's cropped frame sensor, the combo gave me a combined 35mm equivalent of an 1120mm telephoto lens.
Unfortunately for me, the orcas chose the farthest distance they could to pass by Edmonds.
Based upon my photos, I believe there were at least four orcas in the pod and possibly five.
I last saw the orcas as they were heading south off Pt. Wells. By now I had to switch to manual focus as there was not enough contrast for the auto focus to work properly. Janine called to say the pod had made a kill around Richmond and was continuing south.
