Victoria Express

We all can picture tracker dogs saving earthquake victims in Haiti, but saving killer whales? Get real! On the evening of Tuesday, February 9 at 7:00 pm at Camp Orkila on Orcas Island, Katherine Ayres, a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Washington's Center for Conservation Biology will explain how and why she is using tracker dogs to save endangered southern resident killer whales.

Ayres uses whale scat to measure the health of individual whales and to ultimately assess the health of the overall population. But finding whale poop in the wild is not easy. That's were a trained scat detection dog can be a big help.

Just like tracker dogs that can be trained to detect live people under rubble or cocaine packed inside of a can of gasoline; they too can be trained to detect killer whale feces floating on the water at great distances. Ayers will talk about how detection dogs are being used and what valuable information can be gained from the scat, which unlike blubber biopsies, is collected without impacting already endangered animals.

The Marine Science Lecture Series was created to inspire the general public and to highlight the amazing fish and wildlife of our region. Lectures are free. Please park in the upper parking lot at Camp Orkila. Shuttle service from the parking lot to the talk is available before and after the lecture.

The 2009/10 Marine Science Lecture Series is presented by program partners The SeaDoc Society and YMCA Camp Orkila located in Eastsound on Orcas Island. It is made possible through generous sponsorship by Tom Averna (Deer Harbor Charters), and The Gould Family Foundation and co-sponsorship by Barbara Brown, Eclipse Charters, The Kingfish Inn, Shearwater Sea Kayak Tours, West Sound Marina and Jim and Kathy Youngren.

The SeaDoc Society is a non-profit program of the Wildlife Health Center, a center of excellence at the world-renowned UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

For more information contact Jean Spalti at the SeaDoc Society, 360-376-3910. Photo courtesy of S. Buckley.

If you are interested in exploring Friday Harbor on San Juan Island this summer, check out our 2010 sailing schedule. Victoria Express can make your Friday Harbor travel arrangements. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call 360.452.8088 for more information.

What, there is no such thing as a sea gull? On the evening of Tuesday, January 12 at 7:00 pm in Camp Orkila on Orcas Island where biologist and writer Thor Hanson will engage you in the interesting facts about these opportunistic birds. You might not remember all the fascinating details or identification features for the dozen or so gull species we have, but you should walk away more fond of these birds and probably will no longer make the faux pas of calling them sea gulls.

Gulls belong to the Laridae family. They will eat just about anything, from fish or small rodents to ferry French fries and potato chips and a salt excreting gland enables them to drink either fresh or salt water. They nest in large, densely packed, and noisy colonies where they lay two to three speckled eggs. Larger gull species take up to four years to attain full adult plumage, while two years is more typical for small gulls. They can live to be 15 years old and some have been known to live to be over 25 years old. 

The 2009/10 Marine Science Lecture Series was created to inspire the general public and to highlight the amazing fish and wildlife of our region. Lectures are free and this lecture is held at the YMCA Camp Orkila in Eastsound on Orcas Island. Please park in the upper parking lot at Camp Orkila. Shuttle service from the parking lot to the talk is available before and after the lecture.

The SeaDoc Society is a non-profit program of the Wildlife Health Center, a center of excellence at the world-renowned UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

For more information: Jean Spalti * SeaDoc Society * 360-376-3910

YMCA Camp Orkila – A Branch of the YMCA of Greater Seattle – Mount Baker Road, Eastsound, WA 98245 – (360) 376-2678

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Holiday season is fast approaching, meaning that family will be flying to the Northwest from all over, and the calendar will soon fill with business parties and fun events.

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