Video

Marine phosphorescence lights up the trails of fish as they jet towards the whale to forage his remains on a late summer night in the Puget Sound. Beauty comes In many unexpected forms.

The phosphorescence in the Puget Sound is creating a nighttime light show at the decomposing gray whale as fish swim by and leave a beautiful light filled trail of their presence!

Young coyote scavenges on a gray whale carcass on Vashon Island. Vashon Nature Center has set up wildlife cameras to document this whale's return to the ecosystem. vashonnaturecenter.org

Captured 2/9/24

Raccoon eating in Judd creek. Video captured 5/3/24

Raccoons have highly sensitive front paws that they use to feel around in the water and mud to seek out their prey, such as small fish. In this video, two raccoons use this tactile technique to forage in the murky water of the undercut bank along Christensen creek. Video was captured 3/20/24

Mink scurrying across log at Judd creek on 2/26/24

Red tail hawk at Christensen creek on 2/24/24

This is the first bird we have documented feeding on the whale carcass so far. We are quite surprised that birds have not shown more interest. We were expecting crows, seagulls, and eagles at least but so far it has only been this one crow. Perhaps the carcass is just starting to get old enough. It's a mystery.

A mother goose and goslings near the gray whale carcass on Vashon. We’ve noticed that birds seem to be taking advantage of the wave blocking abilities of this whale to find calm water for resting and foraging. See also the blue heron video.

Coyotes so far have been the most frequent large scavengers on the gray whale. This is part of a series of clips documenting the decomposition of a gray whale on Vashon Island in Puget Sound. It is a rare occurrence that whales are able to stay where they wash up in Puget Sound so Vashon Nature Center staff are hoping to learn from the rare occasion how the whale feeds the entire system terrest...

Another visit from a resident coyote, perhaps the same one.

Coyotes are one scavenger we find occasionally at the whale. This may be the same young coyote returning frequently.

The small fish in the foreground of the whale are what we believe to be juvenile pink salmon. We have done some beach seines in other parts of the island these past weeks for other research projects and that's what we've gotten almost exclusively. These were captured by our wildcams for several hours during high tide all around the whale carcass. Were they feeding on it or did they just happen ...

Gray whale barnacles

Coyote feasting on gray whale

Blue heron fishing in whale pool

Heron on Judd

Beaver on Christensen

Male mallards battling it out

Curious deer

Coyote having a drink

Beaver Judd 02 08 24

Lucky Otter

Vashon Nature Center 2023 Recap

Six-gill transported for autopsy

Six- gill shark transport

Wildcam Grid Study Highlights 2023

Playful river otter