Transients operate in Clayoquot

For kawkawin, killer whale, orca, Black Fish -- whatever you care to call them -- Clayoquot seemed to be the place to be in June. We were treated to 16 days of visitation for the month.

Killer whales pillaged their way in and out of most every seal/sea lion haunt as they worked their way along the coast.

On June 4, Ted's gang isolated a bull California Sea Lion and were about to close in for the kill when the lion, choosing the lesser of two evils, dashed over to one of the whale watching vessels seeking sanctuary. Hey, that's a good strategy.

After unsuccessfully trying to scramble aboard, the lion hung suspended upside down beside the boat in order to see and avoid a possible attack from below. A real strategist.

Two young bulls who we'd never seen before toured right through Tofino Harbour and wandered their way 18 miles inland to the head of Tranquil Inlet gobbling up a harbour seal along the way.

After spending the night in Clayoquot, the pair took their leave at the crack of dawn. It will be interesting to see if this new partnership holds over the long term.

Aside from the two new bulls, we saw an additional two new animals on June 4. This is curious in that a few years after starting our monitoring (January, 1991) of Kawkawin, it was rare to see a new animal and here we are with four newbies in one month.

While the transient killer whales that we see are small gangs of three to six animals, this month we had up to six gangs travelling together with as many as 15 animals in the Sound on a given day.

Long time Scuttle Butt readers may recall that in May of 2006, we saw a badly injured young killer whale we named Trauma.

I'm sorry to report that while this tough youngster managed to hang in there for over a year, he has now passed away. This is yet another tragedy for the gang we call the Motley Crew.

Through the early to mid 1990s this five member gang was our most frequent visitors. The matriarch Janice (Joplin) survives several of her gang members. First the late middle-aged bull U2 disappeared in 2001 and is presumed dead. Then Cindi (Lauper), after loosing a calf disappeared and is presumed dead. To top it off, this June we were concerned in that young Axle (Rose) was missing.

Last month we were saddened to report the demise of the old bull T044 from Ted's gang.

An interesting note from colleague Jim Borrowman tells us -- "We managed to get T044 when he went to the great kelp bed in the sky. Interesting amount of seal claws in the stomach and a tag which we traced to a young elephant seal that was born in California in 2007."

On the sea otter front, we have seen rafts of up to 30 animals at Schooner Cove which is even further south than previously reported. Daily reports of small groups and individuals scattered from one end to the other of our exposed to semi-exposed coast line continue to come in.

We have been curious about seeing otters up to five nautical miles offshore. Are they fishing for something in the water column, simply lazing about letting the currents take them were they may or are they actually bottom feeding as is their norm?

A note from our advisor, Marine Mammal Biologist Linda Nicholl at the Pacific Biological Station, advises us that a study in Alaska with transmitter laden otters shows them as attaining depths of up 100 meters! This seems astounding for an animal with such cumbersome-appearing locomotion tools.

Speaking of advisors, Simon Fraser Professor Brian Hartwick gave me a gentle poke reminding me that he had photographed a mom and pup otter at Cleland Island in August of 1972, that's 25 years previous to our first reported re-establishment of these animals in Clayoquot after 200 years of virtually annihilated absence.

I had not included this sighting in the report as it was felt that these were transient animals trying to work their way back to Alaska after having been reintroduced at Neah Bay likely that same year. None the less, a very interesting sighting.

The Strawberry Isle Research Society conducts primary research and monitoring of various marine ecosystems in Clayoquot Sound, promotes public interest and awareness of the marine environment, and supports other researchers in their related studies.