Monday afternoon I was alerted to the presence of four orcas in Puget Sound. The female adult and three juvies are a pod of transient orcas that are familiar to whale watching groups. The orcas first appeared off Richmond Beach, which is south of Marina Beach Park in Edmonds where we were set up. Whale watchers among us said that judging from their behavior, the pod was hunting seals, sea lions, or harbor porpoises.
Several sea lions, and seals swam past us, heading north ahead of the pod. In the lower part of this photo, you can see what looks like a harbor porpoise coming up for a breath of air while an orca breaches in the distance.
Two orcas breaching.
Three orcas breaching.
One breached very close to a small fishing boat.
I got better photos as the pod swam north past Edmonds on the far side of the Sound. You can see the white of the orca's body in this photo.
All of these photos were taken with my 7DII + 500L telephoto + 1.4x teleconverter mounted on a tripod. Given the distance and heat waves coming off the water, I doubt the photos would have been any better had I used my 2x teleconverter.
Several sea lions, and seals swam past us, heading north ahead of the pod. In the lower part of this photo, you can see what looks like a harbor porpoise coming up for a breath of air while an orca breaches in the distance.
Two orcas breaching.
Three orcas breaching.
One breached very close to a small fishing boat.
I got better photos as the pod swam north past Edmonds on the far side of the Sound. You can see the white of the orca's body in this photo.
All of these photos were taken with my 7DII + 500L telephoto + 1.4x teleconverter mounted on a tripod. Given the distance and heat waves coming off the water, I doubt the photos would have been any better had I used my 2x teleconverter.
