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.
Sequim K12, estimated to have been born in 1972.
Muncher L91, born in 1995.
Granny J2, estimated to have been born in 1911.
Oreo J22, born in 1985.
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.
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.
There was lots of rolling around, touching, spy hopping, and aerial scanning from this group.
Cousteau L113, born in 2009, does an aerial scan beside her mother Calypso L94, born in 1995.
One of the mothers does an inverted tail slap.
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.
Mike slides over the female, who is belly up underneath him.
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.
The tail slap to Mike's face.
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.
A male breaches in the distance. This might have been Mike.
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.
The lines underneith the herring jumping into the air in this photo are the pleats on the throat the minke whale.
The minke whale's white banded pectoral fin is visible underwater as he/she begins to lunge feed through a school of herring, squirting water into the air.
The minke begins to roll on its side, filling its open mouth with both herring and sea water.
Herring jump into the air to avoid the whale, who's tail flukes poke out of the water. Seeing the tail flukes of a minke whale is extremely rare!!
The whale will now push the sea water out with its baleen, keeping the fish inside the mouth and swallowing.
This is the minke whale that was lunge feeding. He/she can be identified by the nick in its dorsal fin. We have been seeing this individual a lot this season!
What a crazy amazing, awesome day!!! What will happen next??
Please don't use my photos without permission. Just ask :)
Please don't use my photos without permission. Just ask :)
