Day of the Dead ~ 11th Annual Tribute

Today is Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a time every year I take a moment to remember the Southern Resident killer whales we've lost over the previous 12 months. You can find all my previous Day of the Dead tributes here. I believe it's so important to remember their stories, as they all, both in life and in death, fuel our fight for a brighter future for this unique population of whales.

 L41 Mega

Every loss is sad, but some hit me harder than others, and L41 was one of those harder ones. I think it's in large part because he was such an iconic whale for me from the very beginning. When I first started watching the Southern Residents, there were only three adult males in the entire population (kind of hard to believe, because now we're seeing such a male-bias among viable calves that we're hoping for females all the time). One of those "original" adult males was Mega, so he was one of the very first whales I was ever able to identify. In addition to his tall dorsal fin, he was easily identified by the large notch in the middle of his fin.

Mega and "the girls" in 2005 - his sisters L77 Matia and L94 Calypso and elder female L25 Ocean Sun

Mega was part of a small sub-group of L-Pod known as the L12s. While occasionally given the tongue-in-cheek characterization of being "boring" whales (because they often are spread out and doing long dives, thus being less exciting to watch) , they've always been one of my favorite groups to see, perhaps because I have so many special memories of them.

The L12s, with Mega right in the middle

 

When I first got to know him, Mega had just lost his mom, L11 Squirty, but his sisters had yet to have any offspring of their own, so it was always the trio of siblings I looked out for. Adult males that lose their mothers have a dramatically increased likelihood of dying themselves, and those that survive seem to do so in large part because they find an adoptive mother figure to "take them in", so to speak. Such was the case with Mega. While he was often seen with his sisters, he was also often seen with his adoptive mothers L25 Ocean Sun, the matriarch of the L12 sub-group with no living descendants of her own (save for perhaps Lolita/Tokitae, the last Southern Resident surviving in captivity, who is theorized to be L25's daughter due to their proximity in capture photos).

L41 with L25

 

In another "it's hard to believe now", back in my early years the L12s were the whales I encountered most often after J-Pod, being known at the time for the "westside shuffle" and often spending hours hanging out in front of Lime Kiln. But those afternoons of seeing the L12s go north and south and north and south from Lime Kiln will be how I always remember Mega; while not every pass was like this, it seemed like more often than not he was right in the kelp.

The way I'll best remember Mega: wowing onlookers right off the rocks at Lime Kiln

My all-time favorite photo of him came during one of the first-ever trips I worked as a naturalist, when he broke off from the rest of his family group and swam right under the boat. I was standing on the roof of the vessel and perfectly positioned to watch him emerge, capturing this unique angle of the very beginning of his exhale.

 

 

Mega and J1 Ruffles were always the most iconic males to me, and it turns out that was a fitting association. Through genetic tests, it was determined that as of 2017, more than 50% of the living Southern Resident population was either directly or indirectly descended from those two males. While the adult male bottleneck that occurred in the early 2000s surely had something to do with it, it's also perhaps an indicator that either the older and/or larger males are the most desirable mates. Mega is the largest Southern Resident male among those measured by the photogrammetry research team, coming in at 7.3m / 24 ft.

2015 aerial photogrammetry photo of L41 by NOAA Fisheries/ SR3

Per Ford et al.'s 2018 paper on paternity in the Southern Residents, Mega is the probable father of the following whales:

• J34, J35, J36, J37, J40, J44, J45, J53
• K33, K34, K35, K36, K42
• L95, L100, L101, L106, L112, L116

In that sense, perhaps for more so than any whale save J1, Mega's legacy will truly live on for many generations. 

For some reason, the L12 sub-group became more scarce in recent years, so much so that in 2019, it was the first year that I personally didn't see them at all. That means my last photo of Mega goes all the way back to September 2018, where he was traveling with his niece L119 Joy. Mega lived a good, long life - he was over 40 years old when he passed away. We can only hope all his descendants are blessed with the same fertility and longevity.

The last photo I took of Mega, in September 2018. He's traveling with his niece L119 Joy.

New Additions

To help counteract the nostalgia that comes from writing these posts, I always like to end with a note of welcome to the whales that have been born into the population over the previous year. In some years, there were no births to celebrate. In many years, the deaths outnumbered the births, sometimes by a lot. This year, there's joy in the fact that with the birth of two little whales in September, the population has actually grown by one.

J57 feels in some ways like a royal baby, born to J35 Tahlequah two years after the tragic loss of her previous calf that gained global attention as she carried the body for 17 days. Tahlequah certainly has celebrity status in the media, so J57's birth was big news.

The little dorsal fin of J57 next to mom J35 Tahlequah in September

I've only gotten one brief glimpse of J57 so far, but I have no doubt I'll see plenty more of him alongside the other calf, J58, who was born just a couple weeks later to a whale very close to my heart, J41 Eclipse.

Baby J58 between mom J41 Eclipse and big brother J51 Nova

2020 has undoubtedly been a rough year, for so many different reasons. But I'm trying my best to hold on to the glimmers of hope for 2021, including these two new little whales, and the word that there are other prengancies among the Southern Residents, so hopefully there are more calves on the way in the near future.

July 20th and 21st: Summer Nights with the L12s and J-Pod

On July 14th, the L12 sub-group came in for the first time this summer, bringing with them the J11s who had been missing from the rest of J-Pod. In typical L12 fashion, they spent the next few days off the south end of San Juan Island, never making it up to Lime Kiln. On July 20th, I was more than ready to see them, so after work we went down to American Camp where I hoped to see them offshore. Sure enough, L22 Spirit and her son L89 Solstice were offshore of Eagle Point, apparently foraging and not really moving anywhere for the half hour we were watching them. While we watched the two of them, we could see the fleet of whale-watching boats moving north with the rest of the L12s. I figured they would probably turn around at False Bay as they had been doing, but given the really strong flood tide, when the boats disappeared from view, we decided to head north as well.

I was surprised when we got to Lime Kiln that the L12s were already there! They had finally decided to come up to the lighthouse, but were already past it. Luckily, this is why we have a boat! Team OBI hopped aboard Serenity and headed out to catch up with the L12s a few miles to the northwest of Lime Kiln.

By this point in time they had flipped back south again, but were fighting the strong flood tide and basically not going anywhere. The first whale we saw was L85 Mystery, who was swimming with L77 Matia. A few miles further offshore was L41 Mega.

L85 Mystery surfacing in synchrony with L41 Mega in the distance

About 10 years ago, the L12s were mainstays throughout much of the summer, so I spent a lot of time with them. That all changed a few years ago, and their visits are more infrequent these days. As such, it's been a while since I've gotten the chance to spend much time with them. It was nice to hang out with L85 Mystery, who I used to see all the time, but only got good looks at twice last year.

L85 Mystery with his distinct blunt, butter knife-like dorsal fin

L85 Mystery headed towards San Juan Island

The whales all moved in towards shore before booking it back south, perhaps to catch a back eddy where the swimming against the tide would be easier? On their way towards shore, we got a nice look at L77 Matia and L119 Joy. About a week earlier, Joy was seen spyhopping with a neonate harbor porpoise in her mouth. The strange behavior of our fish-eating Southern Residents playing with and sometimes killing (but not eating) porpoises has been documented since studies on these whales began, but is little understood. It seems to come in fads, and porpoise playing is definitely "in" again this summer from the reports I've heard, though I haven't seen it yet myself this year!

L77 Matia and L119 Joy - probably one of my favorite shots so far this year

I figured that might be all I would see of the L12s for a while, but on July 21st J-Pod and the L12s spend the entire day on the west side of San Juan Island. I believe there were whales within sight of Lime Kiln from 6:30 AM to 3:30 PM, though unfortunately I missed all of it while at work. With J-Pod north of San Juan Island heading north and the L12s back in their spot off the south end of the island, I figured I was out of luck seeing whales for the rest of the day, but luckily, I was wrong! I caught the three hour evening extravaganza on the west side, starting at Land Bank where I saw the L12s come up and meet with some of the southbound members of J-Pod (the J11s, J17s, and J22s came back south while the rest of Js continued north) right in front of me.

I love looking at who associates with who among the Southern Residents, and indeed association patterns is one of the main things we're studying at the Orca Behavior Institute. For instance, why do the J11s seem to have a stronger affinity for the L12 sub-group? They were traveling with the L12s rather than J-Pod earlier this month, and when the two groups met up on the evening of July 21st the J11s and L12s seemed to seek each other out. The whales we saw meet up right in front of us, leading their respective groups, were L94 Calypso and J31 Tsuchi. And not long after, L85 Mystery booked it north through all the milling whales until he met up with J27 Blackberry and J39 Mako.

L85 Mystery cruising north past Land Bank, apparently in search of his pals from the J11s, Blackberry and Mako

The whales looked like they were all going to come back south, but again the strong flood tide was inhibiting their progress, so when it looked like they were going to hang off Lime Kiln for a while, we moved there. Right decision! It was a beautiful evening watching the whales pass, and the sunset lighting just kept getting better and better.

Nothing like sunset whales!

One year-old L121 Windsong

J35 Tahlequah and her son J47 Notch have often performed surface behaviors in syncrhony - I remember Tahlequah teaching Notch to spyhop way back in 2010, and seeing them do this again and again together! This time they were so close to doing a double breach, but Notch was just a second too late! Still an impressive sight!

Breach from J35 Tahlequah

J47 Notch coming up for a breach as his mom J35 Tahlequah splashes down

What was I saying about that sunset light? It just kept getting better. Here's what the sky looked like as J34 Doublestuf and his mom J22 Oreo approached:

And here's J22 Oreo surfacing right in the sun track:

J22 Oreo

Here's another look at Oreo as she continued south; the light was better here, so you can see the beauty marks on her left eyepatch (click to see a larger version).

The final whales to pass were the J28s - J28 Polaris with her daughter J46 Star and son J54. As they approached, they veered in from offshore right towards the rock where we were sitting.

J28 Polaris and J54 approaching

They surfaced at just the right moment, all together, to get a stunning silhouette shot. This photo is totally uncropped and unedited - just posted here exactly how it came off the camera.

From left to right, J46 Star, J54, and J28 Polaris.

The surfaced again just past us, allowing me to set up a shot with Jason in the foreground, to give a sense of how close to shore they were:

Our friend Steph was on the rocks down the shoreline and above us, and she caught this view of us and the passing whales:

I really love the J28s!

J28 Polaris and her calf J54

With all the whales past us at this point, the light fading, and the thunderstorm brewing to the south coming closer, we figured this was our grand finale. But as we drove home, the light just kept getting more amazing, so we had to pull over again to watch the sunset light progress, lighting bolts periodically decorating the sky to the south, right over a double rainbow that just kept getting brighter.

Sunset lighting up puffy clouds to the south, creative driftwood structure, and double rainbow. Not pictured: the craziest lightning bolt I've ever seen, that struck in four segments across most of the sky.

The colors just kept getting better and better....

The only thing taking away from the magical moment was the cloud of mosquitoes feasting on my bare legs. At the time I said out loud that it was definitely worth the bug bites (something I've been reminding myself of regularly in the itchy days since). Finally, approaching 9:30 PM, the rainbow had faded and the golden clouds had dimmed, and it looked like the color show was over. Just as we turned to walk back to the car, however, an orca surfaced. Couldn't resist snapping a few more blurry shots in the oncoming darkness as the whales started breaching way offshore. This image is lightened and cropped a bit, but the colors are unaltered:

Special times in the Salish Sea! This morning I was thinking how, after a very dry May and June, we've had Southern Residents around every day since July 3rd. Of course, as of this morning all the Js and Ls who have been visiting all went west, so today breaks that trend. Fingers crossed they all come back very soon!

August 23 - 26: Let the Superpod Begin!

In the afternoon of August 23rd, we met up with the whales we had seen the day before coming back down from the north. All the Southern Residents except the L12 sub-group were there, but whereas the day before they had been in 2-3 large groups, on this day they were all spread out. When we encountered them they were spread for many miles both north-south and east-west across Haro Strait. As a result we didn't see/identify nearly as many whales, but we did get to spend some time with a few animals we don't see as often.

A big spyhop from K16 Opus, who has a little beauty mark on her chin

10 year-old L106 Pooka (pretty sure - this guy and his siblings are hard for me to tell apart)

On August 24th the L12 sub-group came in to join the party, meaning we had our first full-fledged superpod of the summer! All 81 Southern Resident Killer Whales were here! I didn't catch up with them until late in the day on August 25th, out on our boat Serenity. We could see a huge group of whales in the distance heading out into the middle of the straits, but the only group of whales we got close to on this day was the L54s.

L54 Ino in the middle with her two offspring, L108 Coho and L117 Keta

All the whales hung out down south that night, which meant they were either going to head west and leave or Lime Kiln was going to be an awesome place to be the next morning, on the 26th. Turns out it was the latter! So glad I made sure I was there. At first just a few Js and Ks came by...

J2 Granny and K12 Sequim

But then all the other Js and Ks came into view in one tight, active group right on the rocks. Best. Feeling. Ever.

As they got close I switched to video, and I'm glad I did. I think it captures the moment a little better than stills would have. Someone had the hydrophone playing on a speaker, so you can hear their live vocalizations in the video.

After Js and Ks passed, we could see another huge group of whales to the south: L-Pod! Unfortunately for us they stalled out and turned back south, but not before L41 Mega breached a couple of times, impressive even from miles away! (He's the biggest living Southern Resident.)

Breach from L41 Mega

August 2nd: Almost a Superpod!

I can count on one hand the number of times the L12 sub-group from L-Pod (the L12s, L22s, L25s, and L28s - a total of 10 whales not including L87 Onyx who travels with J-Pod) have been in inland waters this summer, and until August 2nd, I hadn't seen them at all! Late afternoon on this day, however, I was in the right place at the right time as they quickly headed north with the flood tide past Lime Kiln along with all of J-Pod, most of K-Pod, and most of the other L-Pod whales. While the K16s and K21 were absent, as was the L54 sub-group which still hasn't made an appearance near San Juan this summer, I believe it was the closest we've come yet to a full fledged superpod. By my count 69 of the 81 Southern Residents were here!

The whales were in three tight groups, milling around each other. While they weren't really speeding north, the tide was so strong that they passed by very quickly. With the backlight, whales mixed up and passing fast, numerous boats, birds flying all around, and lots of people on the rocks, it was one of our more chaotic data collecting sessions of the summer for the Orca Behavior Institute.

A few fins that are more easily recognizable in silhouette were key to helping us figure out who was where. Despite many of the whales being all mixed up, brothers J34 Doublestuf and J38 Cookie were still hanging tight together:

J34 Doublestuf and J38 Cookie

As Onyx zipped past us, he seemed to be moving from the group with the L12s back to the group with the majority of J-Pod:

L87 Onyx

At the beginning of the summer, my research partner Michael asked me (half-jokingly) to get a picture of him with Onyx this year. (Onyx is one of his favorite whales, and the whale on the OBI logo.) I knew this would be one of my best chances, but Onyx was traveling quickly, and when he next surfaced, he was quite a ways further north. Still, both Michael and Onyx are in this photo, so it counts, right?!

Michael is easy to see, but can you find Onyx?

Next came most of the L12s, and it didn't take me long to spot little L121 - one of the four new calves this year, the only one I hadn't met yet. We now know that it's a male, meaning we have three boys and one girl born into the population this year.

Hello L121! Nice to meet you!

L89 Solstice and two other whales came closer to the rocks than the other whales:

L89 Solstice

They actually went in to the cove just north of the lighthouse!

It took just half an hour for all the whales to pass, and it felt even shorter than that! I suspected they wouldn't all continue north, however, and sure enough, they didn't even get out of sight before the L12s turned back and started slowly moving south against the strong tide. This was more "typical" L12 behavior: spread out, long dives, almost staying in the same spot. We watched them for the next hour and a half, and they were still there in front of the lighthouse when we had to leave.

L41 Mega and his adopted grandma L25 Ocean Sun were in the lead:

The big guy L41 Mega

Next came L94 Calypso with L121, though my shot of the little guy got photobombed by this gull:

Almost a nice shot of L121

Next was L77 Matia and L85 Mystery, an interesting combo:

L77 Matia surfacing in front of L85 Mystery

Following them were the other two youngsters in this family, L113 Cousteau and L119 Joy. L22 Spirit and L89 Solstice turned around too, but were still north and out of sight. While sometimes the L12s are accused of being "boring" whales, I loved the chance to just hang out with them for a while. They used to do this exact same thing (a slow, spread out, westside shuffle) for the better part of the summer, but in recent years they have been more scarce. So it was nice to see them all.