BREMERTON, Wash. -- Killer whales that have been visiting Hood Canal in recent days are transients and aren't from the pods normally seen in Puget Sound, scientists said.

Ken Balcomb, of the Center for Whale Research, said the animals are probably part of a group that roams widely, sometimes between Puget Sound and southeast Alaska.

The center is asking anyone with photos of the whales to submit them at the Web site orcanetwork.org or call (866) ORCA-NET.

The transient whales are eating seals, and not fish, which is the normal diet of three Puget Sound groups, the J, K and L pods.

Six orcas have been seen since Monday. Witnesses said two of the orcas had tall dorsal fins, suggesting they were males.

In January 2003, a group of 11 seal-eating orcas stayed in Hood Canal for eight weeks, but orcas are rarely seen in the waterway.