Tweets-

My friend Jim Pruske, Wildlife Photographer and cohost of the
Bird Talk radio show..(KAOS 89.3 FM Olympia Weds 8 - 9 PM :)
saw a grey whale in the Nisqually River last weekend!!

He was birding along the river and stopped at the Ring Dike
to photgraph ducks when he heard what he thought were porpoise
noises in the river...there have been sea lions in there and
occasional porpoises. He turned to look in the river and saw
nothing...when he heard the noise again, he turned and saw
the back of a large animal and then it surfaced squishing mud
through it's baleen...Jim was so excited he said he nearly
lost it..this whale was 20 feet away..and he watched it and
photographed it for 2 1/2 hours while it fed on the river
bottom mud..Jim said it would go down the river toward the
Sound, then turn around and come back up to the Ring Dike
area and continue feeding..it did this turnaround 3 times.

Besides the obvious surprise of finding the whale in the
river, I was even more surprised to hear that there's enough
water to cover a 45 foot whale..I didn't realize the Nisqually
was that deep at that point.

Jim said is was a blustery day...cold, with showers and only
one other person came along while he was there.. figures..

Tom



Tom Foote footet at elwha.evergreen.edu
Lab II
The Evergreen State College (360) 866-6000 x6118
Olympia, WA 98505