Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Wildlife of Hood Canal – Elk, Eagles, Seals, and Surprised by Killer Whales!
On our first camping trip of the year, we parked our trailer at Dosewallips State Park on Hood Canal and enjoyed a bonanza of wildlife, some expected, some not.
Roosevelt Elk welcomed us our first night; we often see them here.
There were oysters galore, lining the beaches, no surprise,
and there were seals and eagles, both expected.
And then we got a treat, finally seeing orcas in the wild, swimming in the canal (which is not a canal at all but a fjord just so you know.) We pulled over where other cars had stopped, and I managed to snap a few photos as the orcas kept moving in the opposite direction. And though the pictures aren’t great, the experience was!
I’ve lived in Washington state my whole life and killer whales are regularly spotted in the waters of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, but not by me. What a surprise to find them in Hood Canal, apparently not residents but transients drawn by the abundance of seals.
Honestly it made my day and the whole trip special. Back with more, later.
Susanne
P.S. For those who wondered where Hood Canal is, I’ve added a map.
And a link to an earlier post of Childhood Memories from Hood Canal
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
What an absolute delight to finally see killer whales. I can completely understand your joy, Susanne.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks so much, Pete. It was such a thrill and so unexpected!
Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!
It truly was! Thank you!
Beautiful.
Thank you.
What a great outing. Beautiful, Susanne
Thanks, Don. It truly was special.
How truly exciting, Susanne! What an amazing experience and surrounded by such beauty as only our state can provide. I’ll have to Google map the Hood canal.
I saw your Facebook post last night and tried to read the post from there. I had to log in to WordPress but then a message popped up saying the site was private. Strange.
Thanks, Terri! We love Hood Canal! And seeing the orcas was so unexpected and such a thrill!
Hopefully, your difficulty getting to my site from FB was just a bug that gets sorted out soon!
Back again to let you know I updated my post to include a map of the area as others may want more information, too!
Seeing whales is always thrilling, congrats on your sighting!
Thank you! I’ve seen whales before mainly on cruises, but never an orca in the wilds of Washington and it was a thrill!!
I’m going to admit – I’m a tiny bit jealous! The photos of the orcas were good!!
Aw thanks so much! Everything happened so quickly, I was just shooting and hoping to get a couple good ones, at least proof that I saw them!
Huh. I’m surprised they like the “canal.” lucky you to see them so effortlessly! How exciting!
I didn’t realize they were in Hood Canal, so I was so thrilled to see them. But it’s long and deep, as an arm of Puget Sound, with ultimate outlet to the Pacific Ocean, so it makes sense they might travel down there.
Amazing to see the orca like that! We saw them years ago off Vancouver Island but weren’t so lucky on our visit to the San Juans where we’d been told they were almost guaranteed – ‘almost’ being the operative word 😆 Love the elk too – I’ve only ever seen one in the far distance (in the North Cascades)
It was so unexpected and such a thrill! There were several others who’d stopped for photos that seemed to know they were in the area, through an orca watching network. They were going to continue to follow them but we were headed in the opposite direction.
You know the fond memories I have of Seabeck on the Canal. I am amazed that orcas have swum up there. It proves the eating is excellent. We have an abundance of bears here(not my town, but many others.) Are there brown bears up there?
It was such a thrill to see the orcas. Apparently, the seals draw them. There are lots of bears in Washington, though I’ve only rarely seen them in the wild. They want to reintroduce grizzlies in the North Cascades and I’m not a fan of that.
So awesome ! Elks, seals and even orcas. 🦭
Yes, it was quite a treat! 😊😊
That’s so cool!
Thank you! I was thrilled!
Very cool!
Thank you!