While she and her crew conducted the necropsy, other biologists surveyed the area’s live mammals.

When gray whales are migrating southbound and during mating season, they don’t eat, Huggins said. Northbound, they graze on the way, but are more focused on their migration. Since 1990, “The Sounders,” a dozen identified gray whales, take a springtime pit stop near Whidbey Island.

“This particular whale was probably not doing well, lagging behind in the migration, looking for something to eat,” Huggins said.

There was a live stranding at the same location in 2010, three mornings in a row at low tide, she said. The grays eat in shallow water. It’s a risky eating strategy when the tide’s going out.

The undisclosed Camano location was selected because it’s fairly remote and the decomposing whale shouldn’t bother the human residents. It’s a process that could take a few weeks or more, depending on the tide, location and amount of scavenging, she said.

“It’ll be feeding the crabs when the tide’s high and feeding the eagles and gulls and other scavengers when the tide’s low,” Huggins said.

Human scavengers take note: it’s illegal to possess marine mammal parts without permits, even if they’re dead. Besides, the parts are really stinky.

The whale was discovered Sunday, May 5, about 12:30 p.m. when Debbie Ritchhart looked out her south Everett living room window and saw a whale washed up on the beach. She and architect husband Brian Ritchhart live a block from the water on Madrona Avenue just north of Harborview Park.

“We’ve lived on Madrona for 30 years, and we’ve never seen anything like that,” he said. Worried that the whale was sick and needed help, Debbie Ritchhart called 911 and was directed to call Marine Mammal Response.

People at Marine Mammal Response asked if she could take a picture. Brian Ritchhart said he had a 100-foot tape measure, long enough to measure the colossal mammal.

“On Monday, I went to the beach and walked out on the tide flats about 100 yards from shore. It was pretty mucky; I sank to the top of my boots sometimes,” he said.

The Ritchharts kept watching the whale from their home. When the tide came back in, the whale was submerged and shifted, but was still there Tuesday afternoon when the Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived to tow the whale away as high tide flowed in.

Brian Ritchhart said the boat and whale were underway by 4:45 p.m.

“This is one of 14 (16, as of May 10) gray whales that have stranded on the coast of Washington this year. It compares to three to four last year. It’s an example of an increasing number of gray whales stranding,” said Public Affairs Officer Michael Milstein of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Many of these whales are skinny or emaciated to the point that their ribs can be seen.”

The ocean’s giants eat enormous amounts of tiny animals. Gray whales feed on the bottom, scooping up sediment from the sea floor and sifting out amphipods and zooplankton.

According to NOAA’s website, gray whales feed in the Arctic during the summer. During the rest of the year, they migrate 12,000 miles from the icy Arctic waters to Baja, Mexico’s warm lagoons and back again. It’s the longest migration of any mammal.

Since they don’t eat while migrating, this feeding has to see them through until they return to the Arctic. Until then, they live off their blubber, according to NOAA.

When the whales migrate, it’s not totally uncommon for some of them to stop in and roam the Sound, but typically they continue on their way, Milstein said.

“So far this year, 48 whales have stranded on the West Coast. This compares to 25 for all of last year. We’ve only gone four months into the year and the count is double last year’s number,” Milstein said.

Making a comeback

Even though the death count is up for gray whales, their population is thriving.

NOAA’s website says that in the 1700s and 1800s, whalers hunted gray whales to near extinction. In 1946 an international treaty was signed to oversee and manage whale hunting.

Protected by the 1974 Endangered Species Act and NOAA’s management, the eastern Pacific gray whale has recovered to a sustainable population. This short video is free to watch: oceantoday.noaa.gov/graywhalemigration.

Today, nearly 24,000 gray whales continue their annual migration along the coast of North America. The population is now fully recovered from the days of whaling, Milstein said.

“The population as a whole has been growing. As you get more and more whales, you would see more mortality. A number of these whales seem to be younger, more vulnerable, juveniles or yearlings,” he said.

He said the key question that scientists are trying to answer is, why? Is it that the whale population has grown beyond what the environment can feed or that the changing environment has less food available? Is there less food or more competition?

“That’s the question we’re trying to unravel,” he said.

Marine mammal scientist Amelia Brower is keeping an eye on gray whales as an indicator species. She works for many organizations: Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center and NOAA Fisheries.

“Climate change is real and it’s happening fast. The Arctic is the area of the world that is changing fastest. Comparing where gray whales are and how they behave over time may provide insight into how the ecosystem is changing,” Brower said. “Gray whales may be important sentinels of ecosystem changes to come. Everything is connected. All the ecosystems around the globe. What happens in the Arctic will affect the rest of the world.”