Please don't use my photos without permission. Just ask :)
On the night of 7/1/14 or early in the morning of 7/2/14, K pod returned to San Juan Island, joined J and L pod and formed the first superpod gathering of the season! Aboard the Odyssey of San Juan Excursions, we departed from Friday Harbor and headed North to see the family reunion. We met up with the J, K, and L pod as they headed past Stuart Island, aimed for the Fraser River. J and K pod were in the lead while L pod (minus the L12's, L22's and L54's) brought up the rear. Towards the end of the encounter, L pod turned around and headed back down towards San Juan while J and K pod continued on. I saw members from each of K pod's matrilines and am so happy they are back!! Hopefully they find enough to stick around for awhile!
Please don't use my photos without permission. Just ask :)
0 Comments
On the morning of 11/28/13, I heard a report that lots of orcas had been seen off the West side of San Juan Island, usually an indicator for one or more Southern Resident orca pods. I looked out my window to see a few orcas milling offshore, acting more like a small group of Transient orcas, who instead of eating only salmon like the Residents, prey specifically on marine mammals. The orcas began moving North so I drove that direction as well and once I was at a higher vantage point, I could see many, many more orcas and it was obvious that I was looking at Residents. I headed to Lime Kiln State Park and got there just in time as J, K and L pod, minus two matrilines called the L12's and L22's, passed by shore, some just a few feet away. They were very active! Best Thanksgiving EVER!!
I'm writing this blog post just after finishing up all the packing for college and am ready to depart for Evergreen State College early in the morning. Today was a day full of goodbyes, including one farewell that I had hoped for, but had not expected. I had wanted to see the Southern Resident orcas one last time before I left on 9/20/13 and it just so happened that all three pods arrived this morning and I was able to see them from shore at Lime Kiln State Park, and from the "Odyssey" of San Juan Excursions. There are a handful of days each season, where such an incredible encounter takes place that it really sticks in your mind for a long time. Every moment, every detail, every emotion felt, will never be forgotten. Today one of those types of encounters took place. Below are some of my favorite photos I took today as almost all eighty one of the Southern Resident orcas were jumbled up together to play, socialize and mate. I'm so glad I got to say my goodbyes to the orcas! What perfect timing! Now that I'm off to college for marine biology, orca encounters will likely stop until next summer, unless I'm on break back up here on San Juan Island and get to see them. You never know, so keep checking for posts here and I will continue updating the San Juan Orcas Twitter page on cetacean news and the "Remembering The Southern Resident Killer Whales Who Have Passed On" Facebook page throughout my time at college. Thanks so much for following my posts here, see you and the orcas next summer!
NOTE: This was the last time I saw Spieden J8. She passed away soon after this encounter at the estimated age of eighty, but she could have been even older. As the sun rose on the morning of 9/12/13, members of all three Southern Resident orca pods made their way up the West side of San Juan Island towards the Fraser River to the North. Over these last few weeks J, K and L pod have been really sticking to the Fraser, occasionally coming back down to San Juan. At the moment it looks like the orcas are feasting on the Chinook salmon that are heading for the river to spawn. The humungous amount of rain fall recently most likely helped the salmon locate their birth river since we had such dry weather and the fish can't smell the river without some rain water helping to push down sediment. I caught a ride with San Juan Island Whale & Wildlife Tours and San Juan Safaris and was able to see all of J and K pod with some L pod members mixed in there too as they headed for the Fraser. It's been so great seeing J, K and L pod on a regular basis recently. My days are winding down to when I leave for my freshman year at Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington, and I hope I get to see these guys one more time so I can say goodbye. Hopefully all of them will be accounted for next summer, plus a few new babies. Crossing my fingers!
As the sun went down on the night of 9/3/13, I was wondering if J, K and L pod would leave for the open ocean, as they were certainly acting like they might. In the morning though, I looked out my window to see the L54's, as well as other orcas who were all heading North up the West side of San Juan Island. Soon after, I was aboard the "Odyssey" of San Juan Excursions, as we left Friday Harbor and headed North up to Henry Island. J pod, and a few K and L families had made their way up to Henry, but others had decided to stay along the lower West side of San Juan Island. During the encounter we were with a socializing group made up of the J11's, J14's, J16's, K14's and L54's. At this point a large school of Pink salmon came around to the boat, many of them jumping. All those matrilines we had been watching disappeared underwater and a few minutes later popped up were the salmon had been. Many seagulls began to gather like they were trying to pick up scraps, as if the orcas actually had been feeding. There also seemed to be some prey sharing going on between two orcas; Echo J42 and her older sister Alki J36, born in 1999. Now, the Southern Resident orcas don't eat Pinks, only Chinook salmon. We have always hoped that they would began to eat Pinks though as there are so many of them and we have depleted the Chinooks so much, leaving the orcas with almost nothing to eat anymore. Instead of schooling together now, Chinook here tend to hide in schools of other types of salmon. Maybe that is what was happening and the orcas found a few Chinook and left the Pink alone, or maybe, just maybe, they went after that school of a few hundred Pinks and are learning to be less picky. One can only hope! As we were leaving the orcas, we saw male Indigo L100, born in 2001, begin to mate with female Eclipse J41, born in 2005. At their ages, they both are still a little too young to be mating but for the first time ever, I could actually see thrusting! Glad Indigo wants to help repopulate the Southern Resident population though, we need all the calves we can get and hopefully in the future he can help us out with that!
Please do not use my photos without permission. Just ask :) On the morning of 9/3/13, J, K and most of L pod returned to the inland waters around San Juan Island. Hearing that the orcas were aiming for my house, I went out onto the rocky shoreline and down close to the water. Thinking that all the orcas (around 70 members out of 81 in the entire population) were still a few miles out, I sat my backpack down and starting going through it when I heard a loud exhale and vocalizations close by. Startled, I looked up and was very surprised to see Kelp K42 spy hopping just feet in front of me! He had made some little chirping vocalizations as he had been coming out of the water too! Other orcas then surfaced around him, including his mother Lea K14, older brother Lobo K26, older sister Yoda K36, Shachi J19, her daughter Eclipse J41, Racer L72, her son Fluke L105 and cousin Lulu L53. I was too shocked to get a photo of Kelp spy hopping but did get photos of the others as they passed by. Soon after my encounter from shore, it was time to board the "Odyssey" of San Juan Excursions, to teach guests about the orcas and have another extraordinary encounter! A short time later we were with a socializing group made up of J and L pod members off the South end of San Juan Island at Salmon Bank. We hung out with this super active group the entire time of our encounter but other groups were spread out far and wide. Our group was made up of six matrilines: the J14's, J19's, L26's, L47's, L55's and L72's.
There were many breaches, backdives, aerial scans, spy hops, cartwheels, tail slaps, inverted tail slaps, pectoral fin slaps, dorsal fin slaps, even a backflip, above water vocals and raspberrys, mostly from the calves and juveniles! What a crazy awesome superpod day!! As we were leaving the orcas, they looked like they ready to leave the area during the night. I was pleasantly surprised in the morning though. . . :)
Please do not use these photos without permission. Just ask. Before the sunrise on the morning of 8/16/13, J, K and L pod left San Juan Island through the Strait of Juan De Fuca for the open ocean. One matriline, the L54's, turned around mid-way and made their way ever so slowly back. By the morning of the 17th, they had returned to the West side of the island. Aboard the "Odyssey" of San Juan Excursions, we watched the L54's as they foraged for Chinook salmon throughout the day, with males Wave Walker L88 and Coho L108 hanging out and fishing together off on their own. That night, J, K, and the rest of L pod sneaked back into the area, so when I looked out my window in the morning (the 18th), I was confused when I saw orcas everywhere! At that point, I had not idea what pods or matrilines were around, so I walked over to the coastline nearby to try to see who was around and ended up having a close encounter with a matriline from K pod known as the K12's! I could see J and L pod members off in the distance too. Definitely another superpod! Soon after, I was aboard the "Odyssey" and we headed for Eagle Point on the West side of San Juan Island where we saw orcas spread out for miles in socializing groups. The orcas we saw first were adult female Lulu L53 and sprouter male Crewser L92 traveling together. Not to far away was Surprise L86, Pooka L106 and Suttles J40, who were all doing some serious spy hopping. Then along came Ocean Sun L25, trailed by Mega L41. Ocean Sun seemed to want to catch up to a large group of J's, K's and L's off in the distance, and seemed to be telling Mega, who was swimming pretty slowly behind her, to hurry it up! Ocean Sun, estimated to have been born in 1928, surfaces to take a breath. This elder female is thought to Lolita's mother or close relative. Lolita is a captive orca who was captured from L pod in 1970 and is that last Southern Resident orca alive in captivity. To learn more about Lolita, click this photo.
All three pods mingled with each other into the night and by morning all had left for the open ocean. I wonder when they will be back?
Please do not use my photos without permission. Just ask :) On the morning of 8/15/13, L pod was on the West side of San Juan Island and J and K pod were inbound through the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Aboard "Natsilane" of San Juan Island Whale & Wildlife Tours we headed out of Friday Harbor and were with the orcas soon after. The first whales we saw was a group of four made up Mike J26, Racer L72, Fluke L105, and Se-Yi'-Chm J45. Mike was acting quite frisky towards Racer, chasing her around while on his back with his penis flying around. All around us I could see members of J, K and L pod spread out. As we headed back to the dock I got shots Crewser L92, Lulu L53, Wave Walker L88, Samish J14, Suttles J40, and others. Later that evening I caught a ride on the "Sea Lion" of San Juan Safaris, and we all headed back out to see the orcas in the sunset. The superpod was spread out for miles, most of the orcas being in small socializing groups around Hein Bank as they slowly made their way back to the West side of San Juan Island. The first orca I identified was Cappuccino K21, who was off by himself. Many of the socializing groups were females accompanied by a flirtatious male. We then came upon Nigel L95 who was flirting with Polaris J28, who had her daughter Star J46 with her. There was another group not to far away so we went over to see who they were too. It was Onyx L97, Calypso L94, and her daughter Cousteau L113. Onyx was not attempting to mate with Calypso but instead was just calmly swimming along beside her. He then turned away and headed North, probably to join Granny J2 and Spieden J8, who he has been traveling with ever since her lost his other adoptive mothers in K pod and his actual mother is L pod. Off in the distance we could see a bundle of orcas in resting formation. We slowly motored over and I identified Mega L41, Matia L77, L119, Ocean Sun L25, Spirit L22, and Solstice L89. I never saw Spirit's other son Skana L79 during this encounter, or during any of the other few times I have seen his family recently. As the resting group swam past, another socializing group came up from behind us. It was Nigel, Polaris, and Star again, but Blackberry J27 had joined them. The two boys paused and began to get very playful, tactile, and even frisky. It is pretty common to see a group of males get together and do this type of thing. As the sun began to disappear from view we said goodbye to the orcas, thanked them for such an amazing evening, and headed back to the dock at Friday Harbor. Please do not use my photos without permission. Just ask :)
On the morning of 8/11/13, J,K, and L pod returned to the area and headed up the West side of San Juan Island. The next morning, all the orcas in the population made their way back down from the Fraser River and past the West side of San Juan Island. I headed to Lime Kiln State Park for a close encounter from shore. The first orcas to pass by were two matrilines from K pod called the K14's, and K12's. Then came a mix of J, K and L pod members spread over miles. Soon after my encounter from shore, it was time to board the "Odyssey" of San Juan Excursions, teach guests about the orcas and have another awesome encounter! A short time later we were with J,K and L pod at Hein Bank off the South end of San Juan Island. The orcas were spread out in socializing groups all over the place. The first group we encountered was made up of mothers with only one child: Hy'shqa J37, and her son Ti'lem I'nges J49, Calypso L94, and her daughter Cousteau L113, Moonlight L110, with her son Midnight L110, Shachi J19, and her daughter Eclipse J41, Surprise L86, and her son Pooka L106. We then went to go check out the identities of an adult male and female off in the distance, far away from all the other orcas. The male turned out to be Mike J26, and it was clear that he was in a very romantic mood.The female would surface quickly and he would be right on her tail rolling around. After a bit of this, the female laid on her back at the surface of the water, where Mike surfaced right beside her, his head out of the water. He then slid over her, creating a lot of commotion in the water. They both went down for a bit and when Mike re-surfaced he was on his side with his penis flying around. The female was beside him with her belly pointed toward his, but she still seemed to be avoiding him as she zoomed past him. She then slapped Mike's face hard with her tail flukes, creating a big splash. They both went underwater again and when they appeared, Mike was heading away at a quick pace and was off on his own for the rest of our encounter, and the female, who turned out to be Ocean Sun L25. She is estimated to have been born in 1928 and went through menopause a long while back. Why Mike was trying to mate with a female who can't even reproduce anymore is any ones guess. It's good he is trying though, as we need a lot more babies in this population. Ocean Sun joined a socializing group nearby. Fun fact about Ocean Sun: she is thought to be mother of close relative to a wild caught captive orca named Lolita. To learn more about Lolita click here. As if this day couldn't get any more amazing, as we were heading back to the dock we saw a rare sight, a lunge feeding minke whale! Baleen whales, like minke whales, have bristles in their mouth used for filter feeding. They open up their mouth, take in gallons of sea water filled with tiny fish or krill, and then use their tongue to push the water out through their baleen. The prey then gets caught in the baleen and is swallowed. Beleen whales are able to have such large amounts of water in their mouths because of expandable pleats on the underside of their throats. We watched the minke whale as he/she fed on schools of herring multiple times around the boat. What a crazy amazing, awesome day!!! What will happen next??
Please don't use my photos without permission. Just ask :) While L pod left on the night of 7/19/13, K pod spent the night up at the Fraser River in Canada before coming back down to San Juan Island the next morning. The water was super choppy and the tide was flooding as the orcas fought their way South against the waves and current. Aboard the "Odyssey" of San Juan Excursions, I was able to get some photos of the males of K pod, as they were easier to spot within the waves because of their tall dorsal fins. Scoter K25 breached a few times inshore of us, right off of Lime Kiln State Park, on the West side of San Juan Island while Lobo K26, and Tika K33 surfaced high out of the water to breathe. I was able to spot every member from K pod except for Opus K16, Sonata K35, and Cappuccino K21, which is normal because these three orcas that will sometimes split off from K pod and do their own thing. Overnight, K pod left for the open ocean, an indicator that there is not enough Chinook salmon here to sustain them like there once was historically. After we over fished the Chinook here, destroyed/polluted habitat around their spawning rivers and dammed the rivers up, among other things, we hardly left any for the orcas to eat. Hopefully we can all reverse these actions together.
|
AuthorMelisa 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. Archives
October 2018
|