It had been a pretty relaxing morning and J pod had already been sighted headed back toward San Juan Island after a trip to the Fraser River. Then, reports started pouring in that K and L pod were also headed for the island! K pod turned out to be a misidentification, but L pod was arriving! I headed out to the shoreline and could see them in the distance as they crossed Haro Strait from Discovery Island to San Juan Island. I wanted to know if all of L pod was in, or just part of it, and if there were any new babies, so I headed out on the water with some good friends of mine to check them out (thank you!!). The orcas were spread out in different socializing groups near Salmon Bank when we reached them. We ended up seeing every J pod member, and nearly everyone from L pod, except for the matriline known as the L54's, or the "Exotics", because they travel away from L pod a lot. We had about fifty six orcas all around us as we watched J and L pod's energetic reunion unfold.
Racer L72, born in 1986.
I didn't know Princess Angeline J17 had this notch on her top jaw. It appeared in other photos as well.
Tahlequah J35, Spirit L22, and Notch J47 surface together after being incredibly tactile.
We saw lots of mating behavior from many of the males, but we won't know if any of them were successful for seventeen months! There were also many breaches, spy hops, cartwheels, tail slaps, inverted tail slaps, pectoral fin slaps, dorsal fin slaps, aerial scans, and back dives.
Star J46, born in 2009, pokes her head above the surface in a spy hop.
Sprouter male Nigel L95, born in 1996.
Crewser L92, born in 1995, throws his body in a breach.
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Mystery L85 has gotten so big! He was born in 1991.
Inverted tail slap from a young one.
So much rolling and touching!
Sprouter male Doublestuf J34, born in 1998, tail slaps.
Tsuchi J31, born in 1995, breaches. She breached multiple times during the encounter.
Granny J2, estimated to have been born in 1911.
Tahlequah J35 breaches.
Star J46 does an aerial scan.
This encounter was one of, if not the best I have ever had, and I am still going through my photos. Eventually, many of them will be uploaded on my Flickr page and added to the individual orca sets. More orca encounters to come!
Please don't use my photos without permission. Just ask :)
Please don't use my photos without permission. Just ask :)
