Pacific Whale Watch Association

We started today's trip by watching three immature bald eagles on Jetty island, and an osprey on it's nest. Soon afterward we spotted a California sea lion hauled out on the first channel marker. Another sea lion swam up just as we approached. He attempted to jump up to the top, got his front flippers up, but then he fall back into the water. Soon after watching them we spotted a couple of gray whales feeding in the shallows of the Snohomish River delta. it didn't take us long to find out there were actually 4 of them. They were rolling over onto their sides and raising their tail flukes and pectoral fins into the air as they fed. Surf scoters and gulls followed them to get some free meals from any food left behind by the whales. I could only identify two of the whales we saw as #22 and #1105. After watching these whales for a while we moved off to look for more. Eventually we found gray whale #53 closer to Whidbey Island. He was out in deep water and gave us some good viewing at the surface. Next we noticed a flock of gulls following a sea lion that was throwing around a fish at the surface. It appeared to be either a halibut or a ratfish that he caught. We watched him for about 10 minutes as he threw the fish around and ate small pieces of it. Next we cruised back to find our group of feeding whales and we had a bald eagle soar right over our boat! The gray whales were still feeding in shallow water with their flukes and fins in the air. On our way back to the dock we stopped to watch #53 one more time, and he rewarded by showing his tail flukes on two different dives! Other wildlife we spotted today included a harbor seal, brant, western grebes, red-necked grebes, bonaparte's gulls, marbled murrelets, and common loons. Naturalist Bart Rulon