Day of the Dead ~ 5th Annual Tribute

In honor of Dia de Los Muertos, I post an annual blog in honor of the whales that we've lost over the previous season. I must admit, these posts are getting harder to write; since I did my first one in 2010, the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population has fallen from 86 to 78 whales.

L53 ~ Lulu

The first whale we all suspected missing this year was Lulu, a 37 year-old female. When she didn't arrive with her closest living family members, the L43s, we were a bit worried, but since Lulu has been a bit of a rogue whale traveling with other groups from time to time we weren't sure she was gone until all the Southern Resident groups had been accounted for.

Lulu was born in 1977 to her mother L7 Canuck. Lulu only ever had one other known sibling, L76 Mowgli, who was born in 1987 and lived for less than a year. The small mother-daughter matriline was tightly bonded, but sadly never grew any larger than the two of them. Canuck, despite being of reproductive age until just a few years before her death in 2010, never had any more calves. Lulu was also never seen with any calves of her own, and was suspected of being infertile.

L53 Lulu

From 2007-2009 Canuck and Lulu spent a lot of time traveling with J-Pod in the absence of any other Ls, with the one exception being L57 Faith who did the same thing for the first two of those years. L57, a charismatic adult male, seemed to have an affinity for J-Pod females, and Canuck and Lulu were often seen as close associates of J2 Granny and J1 Ruffles. While pod splitting and mixing and matching would become a more frequent occurrence in the coming years, it seemed like these three Ls were the first ones to regularly break the trend of traveling with their own pod.

The beginning of a cartwheel by Lulu in September 2007 - always one of my personal favorite photos due to the water around her head and the incredible spray

Lulu was easily identified by her tall, distinctly sloped dorsal fin. She was a very surface active whale, known for her regular breaches and cartwheels. Even though she never had a calf of her own, she seemed to be a regular object of attention of J27 Blackberry, who liked to pursue her. On one memorable afternoon in June of 2012, I remember after watching most of a superpod head north, the last two whales to pass by the west side of San Juan Island were Blackberry and Lulu, rolling around at the surface together and seemingly in no hurry to catch up with all the other whales.

L53 Lulu being pushed by J27 Blackberry in June 2012

Sadly, with the death of Lulu, her matriline has come to an end.

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L100 Indigo

Indigo was the first known offspring of L54 Ino. Since I started watching these whales, Ino's matriline has spent the least amount of time in inland waters of any of the Southern Residents, so in some ways I feel like I know them the least. It was certainly always exciting to see them, because it didn't happen very often. Indigo has the distinction of likely being my least-photographed Southern Resident.

L100 Indigo, here at six years-old in 2007, makes a rare close to shore pass by Lime Kiln

First seen in November of 2001, Indigo would later be joined by younger siblings L108 Coho and L117 Keta. Their family group would regularly travel with the other "rogue" L-Pod groups that rarely visit inland waters: the L2s and the L9s. In fact, as the L2s and the L9s dwindled in size, Indigo gained two adopted older brothers as his mom seemed to take L88 Wavewalker and L84 Nyssa under her care.

Indigo had a distinct, tall (for his age) and narrow dorsal fin with a small nick near the top. I was keen to see what it would look like as he grew up, but sadly he died at the young age of 13, so we will never know. His death continues a disturbing trend of losing Southern Resident males in their teens and early 20s, when they should be in their primes.

The last time I saw Indigo, in August of 2013

It was reported that Indigo was seen in 2014 when his family group came part way into the Strait of Juan de Fuca early in the season, but they never made it all the way into inland waters. When the L54s did make their first appearance near San Juan Island on July 27th, he wasn't with them. The Center for Whale Research spent two days searching the spread-out superpod for Indigo, but sadly, he was listed as missing shortly thereafter.

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L120 ~ Unnamed

This one is perhaps the hardest death of the season to take. After more than two years without a birth to the Southern Resident Community, the news of L120's birth in early September to L86 Surprise led to tears of joy and a huge sigh of relief. Finally, after 25 months, we had the birth of a calf to celebrate! Sadly, this little one would only live for seven weeks before going missing.

Newborn L120 next to mom L86 on September 11, 2014

I only got one chance to meet little L120, as a small group of L-Pod whales came up past Lime Kiln Lighthouse. They got just north of the lighthouse, then turned around and went back south again, giving the many people crowded on the shoreline a second glimpse of the little baby. I remember very clearly my own excitement at seeing this calf being mirrored in the expressions and exclamations of the people surrounding me on the rocks.

L27 Ophelia, L86 Surprise, and L120

During his/her brief life, not only was mom right there, but auntie L27 Ophelia also seemed to never leave the calf's side. Ophelia, too, seemed to sense just how precious and fragile this little newborn was. 

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For the first three years I wrote these Day of the Dead posts, I was able to take a brighter view at the end by also celebrating the new births that had occurred that year. Sadly, this marks the second year in a row where we have no new living whales to celebrate. We can only hope that of the many reproductive age females in the population,  several of them are pregnant and will successfully carry calves to term within the next year. Historically, more births have occurred during the winter months than the summer, so my fingers are crossed that when the Residents return to inland waters again in the spring, it will be with one or more new babies in tow.

September 11 and 13: New Baby L120 and Another Lime Kiln Morning

As is typical for September, members of all three pods have been traveling together. They've been coming and going regularly in and out the Strait of Juan de Fuca, spending a day or two here and then going out west for a day. I made an early morning of it before work on Thursday, September 11 on the west side. I met up with some other hopeful whale waiters, but unfortunately there were no orcas on the west side. The trip out there was not for naught, however (it never is). I saw both Vaux's (181) and black swifts (182), finally adding some birds to the year list, which had been stagnant since July!

The whales did turn up late morning heading towards the south end of San Juan Island, so I went back to the west side for lunch. Bingo! My timing was right on. I saw some whales heading north towards Lime Kiln, and assumed they were probably Js, who are usually in the lead. Then the guy next to me on the rock, who was looking through binoculars, said, "There is a very small whale in there..." Could it be?! Yes! It was new baby L120 and family!

L120 next to L86 Surprise

J49 has been the "baby" of the community for some time now, but he's over two years old. It's been a while since I've seen such a young calf - it was noticeably a very tiny killer whale!

L120's tiny dorsal fin is visible against mama's saddle patch

As has been the case seemingly since L120 was born, probable aunt L27 Ophelia was right by the little one's side as well. The rest of the family was close by, too.

They got up just past Lime Kiln, then turned and went back south, so we got to see the little one twice! 

Can't get enough of these baby pictures, even if the lighting wasn't the best!

Right before the Ls turned south, another whale came just up to the kelp at the south end of Lime Kiln. I couldn't tell who it was because I only saw her head-on, but I heard from a friend who was further south that it was J2 Granny! She got close enough that I could see her saddle patch underwater, and she literally came right up to the edge of the kelp then turned around under water and went back south.

A whale, reportedly J2 Granny, approaches - then turned around underwater within sight of the rocks and went back south

The whales stayed south the rest of the day then swung out west on the 12th, but again were heading back in by Friday evening. There was a book signing in town where many whale lovers were debating when the whales would arrive on the west side. That night before dark? Would they go north during the night? First thing in the morning? I told several people (somewhat tongue in cheek) that my gut feeling was the would be at Lime Kiln at 7 AM. Backing up my belief, I was out at Lime Kiln at 6:45. (Side note: I realize I'm probably in the minority of people who set their alarm earlier on weekends than on weekdays....)

The view of Mt. Rainier to the south was one of the clearest I have ever seen from the island (the picture doesn't quite do it justice):

Mt. Rainier - 130 miles away!

I was looking through binoculars, partly to look at the mountain and partly to scan for whales. Hmm, did I just imagine a dorsal fin? I kept looking.....did I just imagine another? Then a whale breached, erasing any doubts! There they were! I looked at my "watch" (phone): 7:01 AM! And no one else believed me - there was only one other person in the park! (Disclaimer: I'm not usually right when I predict the whales, but if you predict enough, you've gotta be right sometime!)

L87 Onyx in the lead, with J2 Granny right behind

Following Granny and Onyx were Shachi and Eclipse, then the J14s. It's so peaceful to be out there for moments like these! Well worth getting up early for:

There was a little gap between this group and the J16s, who came next. Inshore of the whales it looked like there were a few Dall's porpoise....but they looked a little different. Turns out it was three lags! (Pacific white-side dolphins are often called lags as an abbreviation of their genus, Lagenorhynchus, maybe because their common name is such a mouthful?)

Lags are common further north in BC but for some reason we rarely see them in the San Juans, though there have been quite a few sightings of 1-3 animals this summer. I've seen lags in BC, but this was my first time seeing them in the San Juans, so I was pretty excited! They're one of the only things that could entice me to look away from the orcas!

Three lags in Haro Strait

Lags have two speeds: fast, and faster. They zig-zagged this way and that, and actually came fairly close to shore!

The distinct rounded dorsal fin of a Pacific white-sided dolphin - both our porpoise species have more triangular fins

For some reason, locally lags seem to like to harass the orcas, or at least it looks that way as they buzz around the whales like flies. Particularly the adult males; I've heard of L95 Nigel, L85 Mystery, and L87 Onyx all being tailed by a lag in recent months. These guys were just swimming along paralleling the orcas....

J26 Mike in the background, lags in the foreground

....but when J26 Mike surfaced, they made a 90 degree turn and headed straight for him!!!

Three lags speed towards Mike

He proceeded to go down on a long dive - we didn't see him again for something like seven minutes, and the lags proceeded on their way north. So cool to see a little bit of inter-species interaction, even if we have no idea what it means!

More whales were visible to the south, and would remain so for the next several hours, but they never came up north. The J16s were the last whales to actually pass Lime Kiln, rounding out J-Pod Group A and continuing north.

J36 Alki

I'm just in love with being out at Lime Kiln early in the morning. The sightings have been fantastic, and I know such mornings are limited before it gets too dark and cold to hang out there! The lighting is so magical, no matter what you're looking at.

California gull

September 6th: Five Epic Hours of Whales and Wildlife at Lime Kiln

With word the night before that all three pods were inbound from the ocean, I knew I should get out to Lime Kiln early on the morning of Saturday, September 6th. When I got out to the park at about 7:00, it was one of those blissfully peaceful mornings, so calm you can hear the porpoises breathing. I was sitting on the rocks about half an hour after arriving listening to those soft exhalations: Pfft.......Pfft. Suddenly, I heard a different noise. Faint - far away - but distinct. Kawoof! That was no porpoise!

It was pretty magical for me to hear the orcas before I  saw them. After hearing two breaths, I started scanning to the south and spotted a dorsal fin a mile or so away, but heading north towards me! Fighting an ebb tide, it took this first small group of whales a looonnnng time to get to Lime Kiln. When the first one finally arrived, I wasn't too surprised to see it was J2 Granny!

J2 Granny surfaces in the beautiful early morning light off Lime Kiln

Not far behind Granny were J16 Slick and her son J26 Mike. I could see more blows to the south, but very spread out, and when Mike stopped to forage for a while off Lime Kiln it was clear the whales weren't in any hurry to go anywhere. Eventually, over the next two hours, the rest of J-Pod "Group A" came by heading north: the rest of the J16s, the J14s, the J19s, and L87 Onyx:

L87 Onyx - look at that reflection of the dorsal fin!

Whales were visible pretty much all the time, but in the gaps when there weren't any close, there was so much other wildlife to look at it! It was just all around a very photogenic morning.

The first rays of sunlight on Lime Kiln Lighthouse

A belted kingfisher - the best photo I've ever gotten of one in flight!

The harbor seal action was incredible, too. There were at least three seals fishing right off the park throughout the morning, and they caught at least three large fish throughout the morning.

Harbor seal with a fish. He was looking at me with eyes like he thought I might steal it from him! The water looks so gray because this was before the sun really came up over the island - it was early!

Two harbor seals - much nicer lighting after the sun arrived!

A little early morning yoga, harbor seal style!

Once Group A had continued north in their ones and twos, which took until almost 10 AM, I could see a lot of blows all at once off Land Bank to the south. Yesss!! Who could this be? Turns out it was all of Group B (J11s, J17s, J22s) traveling together, most of them right along the shoreline!

Photographer and whales - the best of shore-based whale-watching!

I love this shot because it shows just how close to shore the whales come! When you see them appearing over or around the rocks, you know you're a few moments away from an incredible treat!

Not only were they close, the lighting couldn't have been better! I've spent a lot of early mornings on the west side this summer without seeing anything, but this one panning out made it all worth it!

I've gotten photos of orcas and harbor seals in the same shot when I've been on a boat, but this was the first time I had a chance to take a shot like this from shore! Usually the harbor seals are on the rocks behind the whales, but this time the harbor seal is in the foreground!

The lighting was such that you could see the whales underwater as they swam past, truly one of the most magical experiences. Unfortunately the surface was just a bit too disturbed to get clear underwater photos, but it still led to some neat abstract shots. I really like photos like this, though I've learned over the years that unless you've looked at as many whales and whale photos as I have, it's not always clear what you're seeing! Here's one showing just the head of the whale underwater, and you're seeing the white chin, white eye patch, and the beginning of her exhalation:

Here's the next photo in the sequence to help you better visualize what you're seeing:

Here's another set of three shots where you can see a whale underwater, right before she comes up and surfaces onto the back of the whale in front of her!

Then in this one even I'm not sure of what all is visible in terms of how many whales or which body parts you're seeing, but I like it anyway! I do see the head of one whale in the middle, right above the ripple across the middle of the photo. That whale is "upside down" compared to the ones in the photos above.

Not only was the light amazing for seeing under water, it was perfect above water, too! How about this "rainblow" from J32 Rhapsody?

A beautiful "rainblow" from J32 Rhapsody

Two whales were trailing just a minute or two behind the main group, and all of a sudden they raced by to catch up. It was J28 Polaris and J46 Star.

J28 Polaris

At this time I wasn't even sure if all three pods had made it in, or stayed in for that matter. But when all of Js had gone by, I was still seeing blows to the south, so I knew somebody else was here! About 20 minutes after the Js came the K14s. As is always the case on these epic passbys, as soon as they had passed, the next set of whales was approaching. Following the K14s were the K12s, and then the K13s in three spread out groups of their own. The final two whales to pass were K20 Spock and K38 Comet.

K20 Spock and K38 Comet

When all of Ks had gone by (we're talking about a little over 4 hours of whales slowly passing by at this point), there were still more blows to the south! These whales (they had to be Ls, by the process of elimination, as everyone else but three K-Pod whales had been sen at this point) were milling, and while I waited to see if they would make their way up, the harbor seals continued to entertain.

It looked like the seals were catching salmon:

I'm not sure if these two both saw the same fish at the same time or what, but they proceeded to fight over one good sized fish right in front of me!

The action was happening so fast I was just clicking the shutter with no real idea of what I was capturing, but it was a real treat to go home and look through my pictures later! Here's one seal lunging out of the water right at the other:

And my gem seal shot of the day, one of the seals completely submerged underwater but visible holding a very tattered salmon in his mouth!

In the end, the whales to the south turned and went back south, but I couldn't complain! After five hours and more than five hundred photos at Lime Kiln, it had truly been an epic morning. Ultimately Js and Ks continued north to the Fraser River while the 3 K-Pod whales and all of L-Pod spent their whole day off the southwest side of San Juan Island. Big news came in the afternoon, however, when the Center for Whale Research announced that they had documented a new calf, L120, born to L86 Surprise!

If you've been reading my blog throughout the summer, you've probably heard me mention that J49 Ti'lem I'nges was the last calf born to the Southern Residents - in August of 2012! We had to wait an astonishing 25 months to welcome the next new member to the population. While we were all beyond thrilled to hear about this new little one's arrival, the long drought with no babies is certainly a cause for concern. The very latest research from the Conservation Canine crew (the folks that use scat-detection dogs to  collect killer whale fecal samples for some pretty cutting edge hormone analysis) is that it looks like the whales are getting pregnant, but seem to be miscarrying, perhaps due to nutritional stress. It goes back to the very same core message: no fish, no blackfish.

The arrival of this little one was also a little bittersweet because of the family group he/she was born in to. The last whale born to L86 Surprise! (yes the exclamation point is officially part of the name) met an unfortunate fate. You can read about L112 Sooke on one of my previous blog posts here.

But I don't mean to digress too far into the sad side of things - the arrival of L120 was a very happy day! So happy that I got tears in my eyes when I heard the news. It would take a few days until I would have the opportunity to meet L120 for myself, but I would get a chance to see him/her before too long!! Stay tuned for those photos - you won't believe how small a 6 foot long, 400 pound cetacean can look!