Whale returns to Vancouver shoreline

A grey whale was spotted cruising around Vancouver'sshoreline once again Thursday morning.

The whale was seen just after sunriseswimming near Science World at the most easterly end of the False Creek inlet on the southern shore of the downtown peninsula.

It then swam west toward the open water in English Bay and was reportedly spottedoff Jericho Beach, near Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood, around 8:30 a.m. PT.

The whale was first seen on Wednesday around 10:30 a.m. PT by a jogger near Third Beach in Stanley Park.

The coast guard then followed the whale as it spent several hours in the busy waters of False Creek.

The whalereportedly returned to False Creek on Wednesday evening, before being spotted again in the shallow water inlet on Thursday morning.

Over the weekend, a grey whale was spotted just north of Vancouver in Howe Sound near Squamish, but it is not yet clear if the most recent sightings were of the same whale.

Paul Cottrell, the marine mammal co-ordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada,said herring are spawning in that area, which may have attracted the whale,along witha pod of 200 to 300 Pacific white-sided dolphins that have also been spotted in Howe Sound.