Ruffles in the Longhouse

“Honey, there’s a whale in the yard! Grab the camera,” I shouted to Odin around 7:30 on Sunday night, March 27. A juvenile Gray whale glided sideways, barely 10 feet off our beach, waving tail flukes and a pec flipper. S/he had eelgrass draped over the pec flipper, suggesting s/he was bottom foraging in shallow water for tasty tidbits: crustaceans, worms, et al. 

The young whale was 20 feet long at most, with a relatively smooth head. Grays become encrusted with barnacles and unique species of whale lice as they age. Cyamus scammoni, one type of whale louse, lives exclusively on Gray whales. Learn more by reading the American Cetacean Society’s Gray whale fact sheet at http://acsonline.org/factpack/graywhl.htm.

Cascadia Research, cascadiaresearch.org, collects data and ID photos on Grays in Puget Sound. Each year, some Grays are newcomers and some are regulars who return to preferred feeding areas. To identify Grays, researchers need quality photos of flank patterns and the undersides of tail flukes.

Habitual Dorsal Spin readers know that several Grays visited the Island last spring, including an active yearling who delighted humans and dogs at Point Robinson in April 2010. Judging by the tail flukes, our March 27 Colvos Pass whale is not the same whale.

Dear readers, the VHP appreciates your March reports of Gray whales and Dall’s porpoises in Island waters. From your calls, it sounds as if a larger Gray was in East Passage in early March. The spunky youngster we saw off our beach on March 27 could be the same whale spotted in Colvos Pass on March 22, based on your informative reports of a Gray close to shore exhibiting similar behavior.

Utterly unsubstantiated are cyber rumors of orcas anywhere in Island waters recently. A reliable, vetted VHP spotter on Maury Island has seen Dall’s porpoises routinely cruising – north and south -- between Point Robinson and Piner Point since early March. The porpoises are likely foraging. We have seen a few porpoises in Colvos Pass, but the groups in East Pass are larger. Mark Sears has seen them near Lincoln Park, as well.

Please support the work of the Vashon Hydrophone Project (VHP): REPORT LOCAL WHALE SIGHTINGS ASAP TO 463-9041. Reporting directly to the VHP sustains an ongoing, accurate dataset of whale sightings for Vashon-Maury and contiguous Central Puget Sound waters, initiated more than 30 years ago by researcher Mark Sears. Call the VHP about dead, injured, or sick marine mammals on Island beaches. Check for updates at www.Vashonorcas.org and send photos to Orca Annie at Vashonorcas@aol.com.

On March 17, Odin and I presented at the Student GREEN Congress at Evergreen State College in Olympia. We delivered a Kéet Shuká keynote to a packed Longhouse, where we honored Southern Resident Elder Ruffles (J1). We were in good company, surrounded by the stunning artwork of Skokomish healer/artist Subiyay (Bruce Miller) and his nephew, Michael Pavel. On the Longhouse wall, a large Pavel piece titled “Killer Whale in Transition” was especially fitting.

During our keynote, Mark’s gorgeous, timeless photo of Ruffles spyhopping off Vashon was projected on large screens. Ruffles epitomizes Kéet Shuká – he is a sacred ancestor.  Odin and I were deeply touched by the audience applause for Ruffles; everyone understood that the Longhouse was a perfect place to pay tribute to a venerated killer whale patriarch.

Finally, Odin and I must thank Marcia for the thoughtful care package and sympathy card. We miss our fur baby Stogarita terribly. For me, mornings are particularly rough; Stogarita was my wee helper as I brewed the Orca Blend.

2011, you are on notice for your death and destruction.