PHOTOS: Orca sightings off West Seattle

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

(ADDED: Photo by Paul Brannan – orca off Fauntleroy)

5:43 PM: Caller says a few orcas are southbound – playfully, not speedily – off Constellation Park south of Alki Point right now. Might be “transients,” which Orca Network says have been in the central Sound today. Let us know if you see them!

7:46 PM: Adding a photo – thanks, Paul!

8:25 PM: And thanks to Araya Casey Photography for sharing these images:

The photos were taken in the Alki area.

CRS October 4, 2015 (5:54 pm)

Currently south of Vashon Ferry terminal. There are 3 of them. Very cool!

Cagey October 4, 2015 (6:16 pm)

There were four of them off lowman beach and Lincoln park at 5:45-ish.

~Hockeywitch~ October 4, 2015 (6:29 pm)

I need some sort of an Alarm to let me know when they are close.. I always miss them. I think they must know when I’m home and that’s when they swim by…lol. they talk to each other, “Hey, that lady is gone, lets go quick!”…

tom October 4, 2015 (6:41 pm)

so glad i follow WSB on twitter! got the tweet 15 seconds after posted and got to the beach in 5 minutes for perfect viewing. Thanks!!

Keri October 4, 2015 (8:57 pm)

So lucky to be beach combing at Constellation Park when a photographer gave us a head’s up. (THANK YOU!!!) After 9 years, we finally saw them, and just a few feet off shore. And I could swear one of the babies was with them.

WSB October 4, 2015 (8:58 pm)

They might have had a calf along – so far we have only heard that these were transients, not the Southern Residents which have welcomed five this year – the transient population is not tracked quite as closely.

JSA October 4, 2015 (9:42 pm)

We saw them around 5pm from our house in SW Magnolia. They swam right by headed toward Alki Beach. So beautiful.

Mary S October 4, 2015 (11:18 pm)

Hockeywitch, if you follow the Orca Network on Facebook, they usually alert folks. Today we just happened to be standing right on Beach Drive when they appeared!

WSB October 4, 2015 (11:30 pm)

We publish word to FB and Twitter as well as here as soon as we get a West Seattle sighting report (and we have great sources too). ON is great but it’s regional, so its readers post sightings for many areas and so the WS-specific info is sometimes buried in comment threads. Even an immediate alert is no guarantee of seeing them, believe me … we usually rush right out after posting to all channels and seldom get a glimpse. Glad for everyone who did see them today; we were off-peninsula at the time and couldn’t even try, but very thankful to have received photos to share. – TR

Sorry, comment time is over.