I haven't written a blog post on here for awhile now, and there is a reason behind that; there were never any orcas to encounter. After seeing K pod on 7/20/13, there was a Southern Resident orca dry spell. Then, on 8/7/13, six members from an L pod matriline called the L54's appeared on the West side of San Juan Island and have been there for the last few days now.
The L54 matriline is made up of matriarch Ino L54, her young offspring Indigo L100, Coho L108, and Keta L117, and two unrelated adult males named Nyssa L84 and Wave Walker L88, who Ino has taken into her matriline after they became the last members of their own families.
The L54 matriline is made up of matriarch Ino L54, her young offspring Indigo L100, Coho L108, and Keta L117, and two unrelated adult males named Nyssa L84 and Wave Walker L88, who Ino has taken into her matriline after they became the last members of their own families.
Wave Walker L88, born in 1993, and Nyssa L84, born in 1990, on 8/7/13.
Left to right: Coho L108, Nyssa L84, Ino L54, and Indigo L100. Keta L117 was in there too. Taken on 8/9/13.
Wave Walker L88 does an inverted tail slap on 8/10/13.
This year has been a record low for Southern Resident orca sightings around San Juan Island and there is a reason behind that too; this year there is also a SUPER low amount of Chinook salmon in the area. Thus, J, K, and L pod must search somewhere else for their food, which never used to happen. Historically these orcas could be seen the area all year round, nearly every day.
Some observations of this season:
Over the next few years, will we continue to see a trend of the Southern Resident orcas arriving later and later into the year until they pop in maybe once or twice a year, maybe even never? Instead of waiting to see if this happens, let's make sure it doesn't.
Some observations of this season:
- Multiple times, the only Southern Resident orcas in the area were the three members of the L22 matriline, something that has never happened before.
- The orcas came back later into the season than usual, (has been a trend for a few years now) and all three pods have been pretty scarce.
- The most residential pod, J pod, was last in the area on 7/12/13, before then 6/9/13. Usually around this time this pod would be here nearly every day.
- K pod spent less than 7 days here this entire season.
Over the next few years, will we continue to see a trend of the Southern Resident orcas arriving later and later into the year until they pop in maybe once or twice a year, maybe even never? Instead of waiting to see if this happens, let's make sure it doesn't.
