Whale Watching Report

We started out our day sighting at least one gray whale before we even left the dock, thanks to Mark's steady hand with the binoculars. A few moments later we saw three immature bald eagles on Jetty Island, and two California sea lions hauled out on their favorite green marker. We made our way toward two gray whales hanging out together west of Jetty Island. One of the whales was Patch, #49. They were both heading toward the shallows. Once they got there the whales turned on their sides to feed, exposing their pectoral flippers and their tail flukes at the same time with lots of splashing around. We watched for a long time as they fed continuously while large flocks of western grebes, surf scoters, white-winged scoters, and Glaucous-winged gulls watched close by. Later we saw three new gray whales heading in our direction, and decided to give them a closer look. As we approached one of the whales did a big spyhop. I was able to identify one of the grays as #22. The three grays joined our first group of two and soon all five were rolling around in the shallows feeding. As the sun broke out we headed north to take a look at the bald eagle's nest on Camano Island. The female was in the nest, and we saw two other bald eagles nearby along with a red-tailed hawk. On the way back we revisited our large group of gray whales. They had moved in closer to land with the rising tide, and they were still feeding in very shallow waters. What a treat to see 5 gray whales hanging out so close together! Naturalist - Bart Rulon