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J Pod Outbound On 3/27/15

4/5/2015

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On the morning of the 27th, J pod arrived at San Juan Island, their echolocation clicks audible on the OrcaSound hydrophone, which is located between Snug Harbor and Andrew's Bay. I drove down to Lime Kiln State Park (South of the Orcasound hydrophone) in time to see Samish J14, Hyshqa J37, Suttles J40, and Ti'lem I'nges J49 foraging for salmon a little offshore, as well as a few more individuals way far out in Haro Strait. The orcas were generally heading Southwest and spread out. After the short encounter at Lime Kiln, I was out on the water with some friends to find the rest of the pod.

Fog was rolling in but it wasn't long before I spotted a few orcas off to our right as we headed down the shoreline of San Juan. These orcas turned out to be the J16s: matriarch Slick J16, and her three daughters Alki 36, Echo J42, and J50, but no Mike J26. Slick J16, Echo J42, and J50 mostly stuck close together and Alki J36 would occasionally join them for a bit before pulling ahead and traveling by herself. J50 being her usual independent self, would sometimes surface behind the others, or stay near the surface while everyone else was on a dive. At one point, while waiting for the orcas to resurface after a long deep dive and keeping a slow, predictable path of travel at what had been the correct distance away from them, the four decided to pop up right next to boat and check us out before contiuing on their way. The J16s led us across Haro Strait in the fog to Discovery Island, where we left them to get ID's of other J pod members.
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Alki J36, born in 1999, and Slick J16 (background), born around 1972.
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Slick J16 with J50, born in December of 2014, at her side.
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Echo J42, born in 2007, with Slick J16 and J50 in the background.
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Slick J16, J50, and Alki J36 with Victoria, BC, in the background.
As we we were leaving the J16s, we could see a male up a ahead traveling by himself. He turned out to be Mike J26, who was born in 1991 and is Slick J16's son. More orcas were surfacing further West of us so we headed over towards them and spotted Princess Angeline J17 and Moby J44 with the J14s, and then Polaris J28 and Star J46 with the J11s. The pod then started gathering together and lining up in a slow moving resting line. Individuals we had not seen yet appeared in the line, J51's little orange chin poking up noticeably beside Eclipse J41 with every surfacing. Soon, almost every member of J pod was in the line, except for the J16s who were still far back behind them, as well as males Doublestuf J34 and Onyx L87, who rarely joined the line at all, but decided to go off to wrestle and socialize with each other for the entire encounter. Eventually, the J16s, now including Mike J26, joined the resting line.

Resting lines always prove to be some of the most beautiful behaviors to watch orcas do in my opinion.

It is when the orcas go to "sleep" by shutting off one hemisphere of their brains at a time. The pod usually lines up shoulder to shoulder and synchronizes their breaths, slowly moving as one.

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The resting line forms.
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From left to right: Cookie J38, Polaris J28, Oreo J22, Notch J47, Tahlequah J35, and Star J46 surface together.
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Hy'shqa J37, Tsuchi J31, Polaris J28, and Blackberry J27.
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Granny J2, born around 1911, with Oreo J22 and Cookie J38 in the background.
At some point a bit later, the orcas switched back to a slow travel mode instead of slow resting mode, and that might have been when Granny J2 rolled over on her back and did an inverted tail slap, followed by a pectoral fin slap. Besides Granny's slaps, there were occasional tail slaps from other members of the pod, including Eclipse J41 and Onyx L87, and some rolling around, but I did not see any other active behaviors during the entire encounter.
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From left to right: Shachi J19, Eclipse J41, J51, Tsuchi J31, and Blackberry J27.
The orcas continued West in Juan De Fuca Strait, passing Race Rocks. It was great to see all of J pod traveling together in one big group instead of spread out for miles, something that is all too common now, probably in search for Chinook salmon.
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From left to right: Alki J36, Oreo J22, Star J46, Tahlequah J35, Se-Yi'-Chn J45, Polaris J28, Samish J14, Slick J16, and Granny J2.
Just past Race Rocks, the water condition deteriorated from calm to high swells and choppy whitecaps. We said our goodbyes to J pod and turned back for calmer waters. Little did we know that when the next time J pod would be seen (just a few days later on March 30th), that there would be ANOTHER new calf in tow, J52! I Hope to meet this new little one once I'm back home on San Juan Island in June. The last few months have sure been crazy for the Southern Resident orcas! J50 was born in December, followed by J51 and L121 in February, and just when I thought it couldn't get any better, J52 was born at the end of March. Here's to hoping that all the babies stay safe and that K pod returns to the inland waters with new calves too. What a wonderful orca filled Spring Break!

Please do not use my photos without permission. Just ask!

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Two Transient Orca Encounters On 3/26/15

4/2/2015

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At 10:01 AM and 11:18 AM on the morning of the 26th, faint J calls were heard on OrcaSound hydrophone. The hydrophone is located underwater along the coastline between Snug Harbor and Andrew's Bay at San Juan Island. Many people scanned from shore but could not see any orcas. Soon after, some friends and I headed out on the water to join in the search. We departed Snug Harbor, motored over towards Sidney Island, and scanned around the nearby islands. We then headed back across Haro Strait and paused mid way to listen for blows and scan the shorelines of Stuart Island, Henry Island, and Moresby Island, before heading into Spieden Channel. After rounding Green Point, we turned up Boundary Pass, pausing to listen and scan more occasionally. Once we were off of East Point, we headed up Georgia Strait and then down Active Pass. Where was J pod? For fun, we decided to head up Trincomali Channel and check out the gorgeous Samsun Narrows, a pass between Saltspring and Vancouver Island.

As we traveled along the shoreline of Wallace Island, I noticed a distant dorsal fin that was either heading towards or away from us. As we slowed the boat and made our way over to the area I had last seen the orca, he suddenly surfaced close to the boat and continued down Trincomali Channel the way we had just been. The single male turned out to be T124C, an adult marine mammal eating Transient orca born in 1992. More of loner, he tends to travel away from his family.
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T124C.
We paralleled him back down Trincomali for a bit and it wasn't long before he made a kill (probably a harbor seal). It was over quickly with just a some quick direction changes from T124C and then seagulls and bald eagles arrived to on scene pick up the scraps. Shortly after, he resumed traveling down the channel. We then heard a report that a good number of orcas, including a few males, had been seen heading South in Porlier Pass earlier in the morning. We wondered who those orcas were and if they could they still be in the vicinity. We left T124C to take a look around for a bit but came up empty handed. We headed back to T124C again for a few minutes before aiming for Samsun Narrows.

As we neared Bold Bluff Point, I was surprised to see a lots of blows and dorsal fins far up ahead of us. As we passed a beautiful waterfall and got a little closer, we could see that the orcas were split into two groups, one leading and one trailing. Both groups were mostly traveling quickly, sometimes even porpoising. As we neared the trailing group, we could see that, besides a female, a juvenile, and calf, it also contained three males. I recognized one of the males immediately as T102, which meant the other two males were probably his younger brothers, T101A and T101B, and that their mother, T101, was most likely in this group or the leading one. However, there was obviously another matriline around besides the four T101's. We soon were paralleling the trailing group at a respectful distance to find out who the other matriline was.

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Adult male T102, born in 1984.
The trailing group ended up containing T101A, T101B, T102, plus T124A2, T124A3, and T124A2A from the T124A matriline. We stayed with the six orcas for awhile as they took us through Samsun Narrows towards Musgrave Landing.
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T124A3, born in 2006, and T124A2A, born in 2013, surface high out of the water while heading down Samsun Narrows. T102 and T101A, born in 1993, begin to surface in the background.
The trailing group then slowed down and switched to the Vancouver Island side of the pass and we went to get ID's on the leading group, which was made up of T101, T124A, and T124A4. We did not see T124A1 or T124A5, so there were nine orcas in total. It wasn't long before the trailing group sped back up and began to gain on the leading group. The two groups may have come together for a moment before T101, T124A, and T124A4 aimed for Saanich Inlet and the trailing group slowed back down a little.

At one pontt, as we motored along at 7 knots, waiting for the trailing group to come back up from a deep dive, the orcas decided to suddenly pop up right behind us in our stern wake and surf the waves. In an attempt to stay at least 100 yards away from the orcas, we tried to discourage them from riding the wake by turning the boat slowly and gradually bringing our speed down. The orcas got the message and surfaced outside our wake and continued on their way, following the leading group for Saanich Inlet.
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T124A2A, T101B, born in 1997, and T124A2, born 2001, surface after surfing our wake. T124A2 is T124A2A's mother.
Once in Saanich Inlet, we left the trailing group, who had started to speed back up again, and aimed for the leading group. The three traveled slowly down Saanich for a good chunk of time, the mist from their exhales hanging in the sunlight with each surfacing. They then seemed to chase something for a moment before porpoising down the inlet.
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The matriarch T124A, born in 1984. She is mother to T124A2, T124A3, and T124A4, as well as T124A1 and T124A5 who were not present.
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T124A4, born in 2010, and matriarch T101, born around 1973.
We waited for the trailing group to catch back up with us before getting our last looks in and heading back home. One of the males, most likely T102, started flirting with T124A2 as they passed us and even showed off his sea snake for her. By time we left the scene, the T101's and T124A's had led us almost half way down Saanich Inlet. What a wonderful day on the water with two unexpected encounters with marine mammal eating Transient orcas!! We were especially lucky to find the T101's and T124A's in a place like Samsun Narrows, one of my new favorite spots in the Salish Sea for its beauty.

Please do not use my photos without permission. Just ask.
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    Author

    Melisa Pinnow grew up on San Juan Island in Washington State. She attended The Evergreen State College from 2013 to 2017, receiving a Bachelor of Science in marine biology and ornithology. She has been a certified marine naturalist at San Juan Excursions since 2010. It is her hope that sharing her orca encounters will inspire others to love and protect these magnificent creatures for generations to come.

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