New Orca Webcam

One of my most popular posts ever is one that lists various webcams where it's possible to see orcas. Most of them aren't really designed for wildlife viewing, so aren't really set up for watching live whales. There's a new video webcam that is just awesome to watch whether the whales are around or not - but in my first week of checking in on it, I did in fact see orcas!

OrcaLab is a land-based research station off northern Vancouver Island, set up right in the heart of the summer territory of the Northern Resident killer whales. Founded by whale researcher Dr. Paul Spong, OrcaLab conducts research on wild whales, advocates against killer whales in captivity, and shares the beauty of the Inside Passage with people around the world. The audio part of OrcaLab is known as OrcaLive, where you can tune into live streaming hydrophones much like you can at OrcaSound for listening in to the Southern Resident orca's core range. At OrcaLive there is also a community page where you can connect with other listeners. (Note: I haven't been able to get very clear audio from OrcaLive myself - I'm wondering if it has something to do with being a Mac user? It has a lot of electronic distortion noise with it. I'd love to hear if other Mac users have more success tuning in!

Just recently, however, OrcaLab re-launched its live streaming webcam, which was active from 2000-2005 but not since then. The OrcaLab camera is on during daylight hours and varies between being above water and under water. Whoever is positioning the camera does a fantastic job, showing viewers everything from colorful sunsets and serene vistas to fish exploring kelp and Northern Resident killer whales. On August 29th I tuned in and watched as the A30s (part of A-Pod) swam with a pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins. The camera operator would consistently pan and zoom the camera to give web-based viewers a look at the action. Here are a couple screen shots I took during the 20 minutes I watched:

Eileen, another viewer, has posted some of her fantastic screen shots to a Flickr album here, showing a little bit better idea of what it can look like. She got some shots of both orcas and dolphins, and even some shots where it's possible to ID the whales.

Every time I've tuned in when the camera was on, there is something cool to look at, whether the whales are there or not. I encourage you to check it out! Here's the link again.

As a side note, this is my 700th blog post! It's amazing to go back and look through some of the things I've documented on this blog in the last 4+ years....

Birdy Update

I have all kinds of birds sightings and photos I've been saving up and wanting to share, so I figured I would do them all here in one post. First of all, back when I went to Lopez Island I eluded to a bizarre finding at Shark Reef Sanctuary. It started right under this snag, where I saw all kinds of feathers spread all over the place:

I figured a bald eagle had likely caught a bird and eaten it on this perch, and that would be the end of the story. But looking around a little further, we surprisingly found the head of the bird it had eaten - a rhinoceros auklet! Very bizarre...

Also on Lopez Island I took this photo of a gull carrying a shell down the beach. I have seen some pretty ingenious gull foraging tactics lately. Gulls in this area were dropping shells on the road, hoping they would either break open or perhaps get driven over and opened up. The other day with the huge flock of Bonaparte's gulls, we saw birds deftly plucking shrimp right off the surface of the water. Back at home, we have observed a young glaucous-winged gull learn to catch crabs by patrolling the rocks.

Also at home, I've been focusing on getting some hummingbird pictures at the feeder - look for an upcoming post on hummingbird acrobatics - but while waiting for the hummer to return this chestnut-backed chickadee sat nearby waiting for me to go back inside so it could return to the sunflower seed feeder.

A group of Washington ornithologists was recently up on San Juan Island and reported some amazing finds on their trip, including many sightings that would be year birds to me and some species that I've never recorded on the island. An e-mail inquiry revealed that many of their IDs were by call, or at least that's how they located the birds, which has encouraged me to try and improve my ability to bird by ear. Specifically, getting better at vireos, flycatchers, and warblers would be helpful.

When I went out a few days ago, I saw my first cliff swallows (151) of the year flying over a lake with barn, tree, violet-green, and northern rough-winged swallows, so it was my first five swallow day of the year. I also succeeded in hearing a warbling vireo (152) down at American Camp, though I would very much like to see the bird as well! I had some time to go out birding yesterday as well, but was somewhat thwarted by the wind and rain showers. The best find of the day was a pair of Caspian terns patrolling Jackson Beach:

On today's trip out (also in the wind and rain), birds were pretty few and far between, but we did find a nice flock of a few hundred Bonaparte's gulls up at East Point. Everytime I've seen them this spring (and I've seen way more of them this spring than in previous years) they've been flying, but today some of them were at rest on the rocks or floating in the water. I wonder how long they'll stick around before continuing north?

Finally, I've been checking in occasionally on this very cool barn owl webcam. Back at the beginning of April, you could see the female, Molly, with her newly hatched chicks in the nest (one of them is that fluff ball on the left):

This morning, I was very surprised to see how much the chicks have grown since my last visit. They are very large and comical-looking right now as they are between the fuzzy down of a baby and the first feathers of a fledgling. It's definitely worth checking out!

KGW Raptor Cam

Right now we're experiencing colder temperatures than in February - both Portland and Friday Harbor had some snow flurries earlier in the week - but there are still signs that spring is just around the corner. The cherry blossoms are now in bloom, and birds are continuing to partner up for the year. One cool example is a pair of red-tailed hawks that nest on a downtown office building, which you can follow via live streaming video on the KGW Audubon raptor cam.

The above is a still photo I captured from the web cam just a few minutes ago. The hawk is currently incubating two eggs - one laid March 3rd and one laid March 7th. In addition to seeing what's going on live, you can also read the blog which shares highlights and answers questions. The blog is kept up by Bob Sallinger of the Portland Aubudon Society (a fellow Reed alum!).

Peregrine Falcon Nest Cam

I just learned about a cool peregrine falcon nest cam that you can monitor online. It watches a pair of peregrines that are nesting on the 59th story of the Washington Mutual building in downtown Seattle in a nest box provided by the Falcon Research Group (you can also track some tagged peregrines on their migration through this group). They say you may have to wait a while before you see a bird, but it appears to me that they are incubating egg(s) now because a bird has been there every time I've checked. These are a couple of screen captures I took just a little while ago. How cool will it be to see the chicks after they hatch?!

Orca Web Cams

Update October 2011: As this post remains popular for people looking for orca web cams, I've gone through the checked all the links. The only one that is now inactive is the Center for Whale Research webcam, which may be restored by next season. The best web cam for viewing Southern Residents is the controllable Race Rocks web cam - see below. You can also see lots of other wildlife like seals, sea lions, and sea birds from this cam.

Google Analytics is a great tool for monitoring traffic to your website. For instance, I've learned that a lot of people seem to find my blog while searching for orca web cams. While of course nothing even comes close to seeing the whales live, I know a lot of people like to monitor the whales from far away. I thought I would share some of the web cams I know about where it is possible to see whales, plus a way to listen for the whales.

First of all, the Center for Whale Research web cam (edit October 2011: this webcam is temporarily down, but video highlights can be seen from this link) is great because its located on the west side of San Juan Island overlooking Haro Strait, one of the Southern Residents' most common traveling routes in the summer months. You can also control the movements of the camera yourself.

Another great one is the Race Rocks Camera 5, which is another video remote-control camera. Race Rocks are located west of Victoria in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which is the main route the whales take when coming in and leaving to the Pacific Ocean.

These first two are the best, because they are controllable video web cams with a proven ability to see and follow the orcas. But, here are a few other still cameras (that update very minute or so) that overlook areas the orcas often travel, though they are untested as far as I know for actually seeing the orcas. You'd probably see the whale-watching boats first, then know to look for the orcas in many of these:

Island Cam has one that overlooks Rosario Strait from Anacortes. It may be possible to see orcas from this one in the summertime, because they frequently travel in Rosario Strait past Anacortes as they circumnavigate the San Juan Islands. Another good potential Island Cam is this one that looks west from Hannah Heights, which is a little south from Lime Kiln on San Juan Island.

Here's a webcam overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Gordon's Beach in Sooke, BC, another place the orcas travel past on their comings and goings from the San Juan Islands. The same network of BC web cams has another good one near Ogden Point, BC, further east in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

A lot of people ask about what happened to the web cams that used to be up at Lime Kiln Lighthouse, and if they're ever going to come back. Those cameras were bought and maintained under a grant The Whale Museum had for the Sea Sound project, and after that funding was used up there wasn't any way to maintain the cameras. So, for the foreseeable future, there won't be any web cams at Lime Kiln.

You don't necessarily have to be in Washington or BC to see the Southern Resident orcas, especially this time of year! On January 21st and January 24th, L-Pod was seen from the Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay, Oregon. This whale watch center mostly focuses on following the gray whale migration, but they spotted L-Pod twice last month! As more people know what to look for to identify the Southern Residents, it's becoming more and more apparent that L-Pod and likely K-Pod spend at least part of their winters off the Oregon and California coasts. There have been California sightings of both K- and L-Pods as far south as Monterey, California on several occassions over the last few years.

Finally, you can also remotely follow the Southern Resident's movements acoustically, via orcasound.net. Here you can find a network of hydrophones (underwater microphones) streaming live on the internet. The best hydrophones to listen to are Lime Kiln, Orca Sound (a few miles north of Lime Kiln on the west side of San Juan Island), and Port Townsend for when the whales come and go through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Not only will you have a chance to hear the orcas, but you can monitor their underwater environment and hear everything from the rushing tides to freighters to scuba divers.

I hope this helps you out in following the orcas from near or far. Definitely let me know if you have any success seeing or hearing them!

Race Rocks Sunset and Cacophony

A few weeks ago I was visiting the Race Rocks webcam, and I realized for the first time that sound actually comes through the webcam as well! That's what I get for always having my volume turned down....

From the webcam I was watching a beautiful autumn sunset and hearing a cacophony of gulls with some sea lions growling and barking in the background. I had to capture the moment to share, and I did so by taking a still image from the web cam and making a recording of the vocalizations through the built-in microphone on my computer (which picked up the sounds off my speakers).

I'm trying something new here, using iWeb's podcast feature to try and host my own audio files on a page called "Orca Watcher Sounds". This way, you should be able to go click the above link and listen to the audio clip without having to download a file and open an external application. Hopefully I can upload all my audio files there, and you can listen to any of my posted vocalizations from that one site. Let me know how this works for you!

Race Rocks Web Cam

Word is all three pods are inbound together from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I'm out on the boat this afternoon (I can't wait!), but since I heard they were near Race Rocks I decided to check out their web video cams to see what I could see. There is a 360 degree camera that you can control, and using that I saw a huge family group of whales pass close to Race Rocks! It's a very user friendly camera, and they even have a nifty screen capture button so you can download stills to your computer. Unfortunately due to the delay I was unable to capture a photo of the orcas all surfacing together, but I did manage to get a shot of a slightly more cooperative Stellar sea lion.


I'm sure there will be more to post later after (hopefully) encountering the superpod this afternoon!!!