Several other whales have been spotted in the Sound today, so if you're close to the water keep your eyes peeled and let us know if you see anything!
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Several other whales have been spotted in the Sound today, so if you're close to the water keep your eyes peeled and let us know if you see anything!
💕🐬
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These guys have been seen previously in Anchorage, but they also have the marks of cookie cutter sharks on them, deepening the mystery.
These three are now known as T419, T420, and T421, and it'll be interesting to see how long they stay in Puget Sound + where they travel to next!
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A few days ago some interesting Bigg's (mammal-eating) killer whales appeared near Vancouver. They weren't recognized as members of our west coast population and caused quite a stir as everyone tried to figure out who they were.
Today they're in Seattle + southbound towards Tacoma!
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If you need a break from the world today keep your eyes on the Sound as several whales have been spotted today. 💕
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Sometimes people are so laser focused on fixing one issue that they don’t take a step back to understand how it all connects.
That’s fair.
I know some of these people and have had extensive conversations with them about this, so I have some insight into their thinking and it does seem to be rooted in deep passion for one environmental issue without the capacity (or willingness) to look more broadly at all of the impacts.
We know that stormwater run off is awful because of the pollutants from cars. Creating dense housing (with trees, might I add!) that reduces the reliance on cars is an obviously major benefit for reducing those harmful pollutants.
To be fair, I don’t think the opposition is blatantly evil, I just think it’s the result of shortsightedness and some shallow thinking about a deeply complicated matter.
We need to evolve past “trees = good and cities = bad” when we’re talking about environmental matters.
Thanks for mentioning this! Also, last year @jazzyspraxis.bsky.social and I went into even more depth on this topic at @theurbanist.org
“Building new housing is one of the most important things we can do to help our orca population survive,” Cruickshank said. “Density actually helps orca populations. That’s because it reduces the amount of pollution in stormwater that harms salmon and the orca that depend on the salmon runs. Now, what is in that stormwater that harms salmon and orca? It’s runoff from cars. It’s oil, it’s bits of tires. It’s the shavings off the brakes when you hit the brakes, when you’re driving. Stuff like that that gets into the stormwater, runoff goes into the sound, kills salmon and hurts orcas, and it’s exacerbated when we build sprawl, when we cut down forests and pave over farmland that destroys salmon habitat that orcas depend on, it also means more people are driving. So what we need to do is build dense cities.”
The screenshot with the full quote in the Alt text.
One other thing: we've been quiet here as we've been focusing on helping our communities during this ongoing government occupation. We hope you're doing the same and are making it through the days ok.
Please support your local orgs that are doing vital immigrant rights work at this time.
nwirp.org
Read the full article by @typewriteralley.bsky.social at @theurbanist.org
The plight of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales is real + it's immediate but we need to evolve the way that we think about environmentalism and also of what a sustainable city + environmental activism looks like.
There's a heated environmental debate happening right now in Seattle that's being touted as Trees + Orcas vs Housing, which you can hopefully see is simplified politics at its best.
We've been gathering our thoughts on it but Sierra Club Seattle Chair @robertcruickshank.com said it best here:
🫧💜🫧 Sun, Dec 14
Endangered Southern Resident orcas are back inland Puget Sound! J pod at least was audible on the @orcasound Bush Point hydrophone ~08:00. Have a beautiful day w/these beauties. If you see them please share.
📸 J pod during an early November foray. By Catherine Soto.
#psws
Some positive political news via @wcav.bsky.social
“Today the FPB voted to adopt the Type Np rule.
We will now have continuous, 75-foot buffers along the perennial, non-fish bearing streams in Western WA. Industry will no longer be able to clearcut straight to the streambank.”
“Someone looking from the outside would say this is a junky old golf course that has been left to rot,” said David Crowder, a professor and researcher in WSU’s Department of Entomology. “But it has 118 bee species in it, some that have never been seen before in our state.”
@wsunews.bsky.social
What a fun little welcoming committee!
This is adorable!
The chum salmon are currently returning to rivers and creeks around Puget Sound to spawn (or to
return to the hatcheries) so they’re definitely following that food source! Hopefully they’ve gotten plenty to eat while they’ve been here. 💕
The thread for where they’re at today if you want to catch a glimpse from shore 👇
Throwing back to a dreamy day with the Southern Resident Killer Whales off of Lime Kiln State Park in San Juan Island.
Today they’re making their way through Puget Sound, hopefully finding lots of returning chum salmon along the way.
Reports have the SRKWs milling + foraging in Possession Triangle right now, which is the southern end of Admiralty Inlet, between Edmonds, Possession Point (Whidbey) and Point No Point (Kitsap).
They can be heard through the ferry noise on the Sunset Bay hydrophone:
Reports have the SRKWs milling + foraging in Possession Triangle right now, which is the southern end of Admiralty Inlet, between Edmonds, Possession Point (Whidbey) and Point No Point (Kitsap).
They can be heard through the ferry noise on the Sunset Bay hydrophone:
The Center for Whale Research and Orca Behavior Institute have been on the water with them so I’m sure CWR will post an encounter report soon!
@whaleresearch.bsky.social
@orcabehaviorinstitute.org
If you’re interested in following their whereabouts or connecting with other people that love the Salish Sea wildlife + environment, too, jump over to our Discord server:
discord.gg/G2Pc9SzjM
If you’re around Seattle take a look at the water. There are 74 endangered orcas hanging out in Central Puget Sound today. 💕
The rivers around Puget Sound are alive with chum salmon right now. Have you been lucky enough to spot any near you? 💕🐟
A perfect morning. 💕🐬
If you need something cuter this morning, the orcas are back and they’re very chatty.
There’s a ferry going through right this second that’s loud af, but after that docks you’ll hear whale calls galore.