We had a very successful opening weekend full of gray whales. In fact we likely set a PSE company record for the number of individual gray whales seen this early in the season. We managed to spot 8 of the 9 gray whales that have been confirmed in Puget Sound already! The beautiful weather made for ideal whale spotting conditions. Saturday March 5 we spotted gray whales crc 53 (Little Patch), 2249, 185, 2356, and 2362 near Camano Head and in Port Susan. On Sunday March 6 we spotted gray whales crc 22 (Earhart), 531, and 723 (Lucyfer) in addition to spotting 2356 and 2362 again! We didn’t see Earhart (crc22) last year because she likely had a calf in 2021. Researchers determined she was pregnant using drone photography the last time Earhart was here in 2020 so we didn’t expect her in 2021. The moms skip visiting Puget Sound when they have a calf, so it was exciting to see her back again in 2022 especially knowing she likely brought another gray whale into the world last year. Little Patch (crc53) was the first gray whale to return this season, once again. He is usually the first to arrive and, for the second year in a row, he arrived in December. We are optimistic with so many gray whales here already that we’re going to have another great spring whale season. Enjoy some photos from opening weekend! Photographer/ Naturalist Bart Rulon
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