June 20: Exotic Ts

On June 20th I heard that a big group of resident orcas was inbound, so I was keen to get out to try and see them. While scanning from Land Bank, I saw some blows on the far side of Haro Strait near Discovery Island. It's odd for the residents to stay on the west side of Haro, but was that them? I kept scanning further south and didn't see any sign of whales down there. Curious, I decided to take the boat out - with a couple of people who hadn't seen orcas before - and investigate.

The faces of some eager whale watchers

We met up with the whales near Kelp Reef in Haro Strait - and it was Ts! Not only that, it was Ts that I haven't seen before, including some whales that are known as "exotics" because they aren't seen here very much. In this group were the T125s, a group of four whales that have been around somewhat frequently since May 31st, but before that hadn't been seen in the area since 1992!! (The residents, by the way, did come in, but were much further south all night.)

I've decided the T125s are the most badass looking group of orcas around, made up of female T125 and what are likely her three sons: T127, T128, and T125A. 

Mom, female T125

The most iconic whale in this family group is T127, who a friend of mine recently nicknamed "Hacksaw":

31 year old male T127 "Hacksaw" - his fin looked like this in 1992, too, and undoubtedly has quite a story

The other males hold their own in dorsal fin style, too, though...

17 year-old male T125A

27 year-old male T128 - check out that notch at the base of his dorsal fin

These whales were traveling with another male, T49C - I've never seen so many adult male transeints in one group. There were at least three other groups of transients in the area on this day, and interestingly T49C was traveling with a different group earlier in the day - one that included T63 Chainsaw. Of the nine whales present, T49C is the only one I had seen before.

17 year-old male T49C, a lone male who travels with various groups

It took me a while to figure out the other whales in this group, but I finally was able to identify them as the T46Cs, another new family group to me.

T46C1, T46C2, and T46C3

I was surprised to see there were four whales in this family group. T46C2, nicknamed Sam, was found alone and seemingly "stuck" in a small inlet in Central BC in August 2013 as a four year old. After a few weeks when it looked like his health was deteriorating, the Vancouver Aquarium and DFO intervened to help get him out of the bay he was trapped in. In October, he was seen with the T123 family group, though they were seen again a bit later without him. It was unclear if he would successfully reintegrate with any transients or find his own family back. I never really heard what ended up happening to him, but after looking at my photos Dave Ellifrit from the Center for Whale Research is pretty certain this was him back where he belongs next to mom. A happy ending!

It was a beautiful evening to be out, and these whales were booking it north. We traveled with them for about half an hour before it was time to turn back to home. We stopped and got one more fantastic view, listening to their powerful blows, as they continued north.

Can you pick out the distinct fin of T127? ;)

One more surprise awaited us on our way back home! Back on the US side of Haro Strait I spotted three ancient murrelets, an uncommon species here in the winter but unheard of to me in the summer!

Ancient murrelets (with a pair of marbled murrelets behind) in Haro Strait near San Juan Island

I've since learned about this interesting paper, which documents about 30 observations of ancient murrelets well south of their known breeding range between 1988 and 2011. They theorize that either there's an undocumented breeding area further south, or they're riding strong currents quickly down from their nearest known breeding colony at Haida Gwaii.

Whales Everywhere: Js, Ks, Ls, Ts

There have been so many orcas around throughout June it's been hard to keep up - not that I'm complaining! Here are some highlights from June 15th and 16th.

On June 15th Js and Ks made their way east from Victoria and up north in Haro Strait. I saw them from Lime Kiln.

J16 Slick with her youngest daughter, 6 month old J50

On June 16th some L-Pod whales joined the party (the L4s, L47s, and L95 have been a unit so far this summer) and members of all three pods did the west side shuffle. I saw them heading south past Lime Kiln mid-afternoon. The lighting wasn't the greatest and they rocketed by, but some of them were pretty close to shore.

J35 Tahlequah and her son J47 Notch

J22 Oreo and her son J34 Doublestuf

K12 Sequim, K37 Rainshadow, and K43 Saturna

K25 Scoter

On the evening of June 16th, a friend gave us a head's up that a group of transient orcas was heading north past Friday Harbor. We went to a park near our house to have a look, and spotted some blows on our side of the strait but quite a ways to the south. We settled in to wait, and while they took their time meandering up towards us, it turned out to be very worth it!

By the time they finally got to where we were watching, the T65As and T77s were in cruise mode, but luckily a friend with property further north invited us to go watch from her property. What followed was one my all-time best transient killer whale encounters (from shore, no less!) where for nearly an hour we watched them go back and forth harassing harbor seals. It was getting too dark for photos, so I took video instead, and I'm glad I did, because I think the video captures the whole scene much better than pictures would have. The whales on their own took our breath away, but the backdrop and sunset was additional icing on the cake!

June 14th: Js and Ks in Haro Strait

On the evening of June 14 we had the fourth research encounter of our first Orca Behavior Institute field season. We didn't have to go far, coming across the leaders right off Henry Island zooming south at a very fast pace.

All of K-Pod returned to inland waters on June 11 (all members accounted for, but no new calves) for the first time of the year, and this was our first chance to see them. It's always a bit like reconnecting with old friends after having spent the winter apart, checking in to see how everyone's doing and how much all the younger whales have grown. We met up with the K12s and K13s first, ironically right where I last saw K-Pod back in November right off Kellett Bluffs. It took me a few minutes to identify both K25 Scoter and K33 Tika, who have grown over the winter!

K13 Skagit porpoising south on June 14

We thought the rest of Js and Ks would probably be right behind them, but when we didn't see any blows to the north we motored up that way and encountered more whales just south of Stuart Island. The J19s were a bit offshore, and inshore was a big group made up of the J2s/J14s and K14s. These whales were also booking it south!

In recent years J, K, and L Pods have been splitting up a lot more, and it's made more sense to start talking about matrilines instead of pods. These changing associations are one of the main things we're interested in studying at OBI - when groups are becoming smaller, who is hanging out with who? How do different sub-groups utilize the inland water habitat, and how does this vary with salmon abundance? How do these different groupings influence their acoustic communication? It gives us the chance to study if different matrilines vocalize differently. It was interesting to see the K14s right in with J2's group, as at times last summer they were the only matriline from K-Pod that stayed "in" and traveled with Js.

From left to right K26 Lobo, K36 Yoda, K14 Lea, and J45 Se-Yi'-Chn

J40 Suttles in the foreground, and surfacing from left to right in the background K26 Lobo, K14 Lea, J14 Samish, and J2 Granny

The whales were clearly in travel mode, but J37 Hy'shqa took the time to two huge breaches:

J37 Hy'shqa

As they reached San Juan Island, the tight group fanned out a bit more. While I love watching whales from shore for lots of reasons, one reason I like watching them from a boat is because you can follow them through their habitat and see how their behavior changes over time.

K36 Yoda veers offshore

As it approached sunset, we stopped and let all the whales pass us by, including the K16s and J19s.

J41 Eclipse porpoising towards Lime Kiln

We had seen evidence of all of K-Pod and J-Pod "Group A", with the exception of the J16s. Where were they? With the sun setting we didn't think we would have time to find out...until we spotted some blows off Henry Island again on our way back in. The J16s were there, just trailing way behind the others by a couple miles!

The question that did still remain was, where was the rest of J-Pod? They had been there when all the whales went north a few days before. Turns out they were just taking their time coming down, trailing many more miles further behind. By the following morning, all of J-Pod and K-Pod were back together again.

It's a constant puzzle trying to figure out who's where with these whales, let alone why. But it's a question we love to ponder, one day at a time!

June 9th: First Encounter With the Orca Behavior Institute

At Reed College, I did an undergraduate senior thesis on killer whale acoustics and published a paper in a peer-reviewed journal as a result of that work. While going on to graduate school wasn't right for me, I've still wanted to stay involved in orca research, and have done so at a surface level by blogging about a lot of the science here as well as sharing graphs of information I've compiled about whale sightings and salmon numbers over the years. A couple years ago, I met another Reed College student, Michael, who is spending summers on San Juan Island doing killer whale research in preparation for his senior thesis. After working together last summer and discussing numerous short and long term research projects, this spring we decided to formalize our research efforts under the Orca Behavior Institute (OBI).

On June 9th, the same day we got our boat back in the water, we headed out in the evening hoping to encounter the J- and L-Pod whales that had been around throughout the day. When we saw some other whale-watching boats we knew we were in the right area, but after stopping and scanning for several minutes we wondered where the whales were. The glassy calm seas gave us great distance for spotting, but we didn't see any fins! Until, that is, a huge group of whales surfaced, all rolling around together with Mt. Baker in the background.

Js and Ls were all mixed up in a highly playful social group.

While the mixed up, highly active whales weren't the easiest circumstances for trying out our data collection methods, we weren't complaining! It was everything we could have hoped for for our first research encounter (OBI #1). In addition to taking hundreds of photographs that helped us figure out who was who later, we took over two hours of behavioral data and made four hydrophone recordings. You can hear a two minute excerpt of one of our recordings here.

While most of the whales were in one big group, some others were further off, but soon came in to join the fun. Here's J51 speeding towards the big group of whales with the rest of the J19s.

Little J51, about four months old

L87 Onyx also made his way towards the bigger group from offshore:

L87 Onyx

Adult males often like to hang out together in mixed pod gatherings, and it's always an impressive sight to see multiple huge fins right next to each other:

L95 Nigel (left), who has grown a lot over the winter, and J27 Blackberry

The whales were slowly making their way north through Haro Strait, but very slowly - mostly they were playing around at the surface!

Tail slap by L118 Jade

Watching a whale "cuddle puddle" is just about the greatest way to watch whales:

Finally, closer to sunset, the whales started to get more serious about traveling, but stayed in a large group. It's hard to take a bad photo when there are so many whales at the surface at once:

Needless to say, the research crew was all smiles at the end of the day:

OBI#1 research team: Monika, Michael, and Julie

Our data collection this summer will help Michael's undergraduate thesis, but we also have some longer term research planned. Our key research questions focus on the changing social associations of the whales, acoustic communication, and behavioral responses to prey availability. Additionally, last November Michael presented some of our preliminary work at the ACS conference in Long Beach, and based on feedback he received there we are writing up last summer's work for our first publication. Right now this is 100% a labor of love, as we've invested in the boat and hydrophone and are donating our time. Since people have expressed interest in helping us defray the costs of gas, moorage, and boat maintenance, we've set up a GoFundMe account here. Any help you may be able to provide is much appreciated!

The first week of the OBI field season was whale-filled to say the least. Stay tuned for lots of photos form our next few research encounters.

May 23 - June 5: Whale Sightings Update!

I've gotten behind on sharing whale sightings from the last two weeks! So here's a mega catch up all in one go.

On May 23rd, I saw J-Pod head north in Haro Strait....

The J17s off Land Bank's Westside Preserve

...and a couple of paddle boarders got a little more than they bargained for!

He gives you an idea of just how big J31 Tsuchi is!

Js spent the next bunch of days way up north, but I caught them when they cruised back south on May 28th.

J37 Hy'shqa swims by the rocks at Lime Kiln

On the morning of June 3rd, some of L-Pod showed up! Js were back up north, but the L4s, L47s, and L95 did the westside shuffle throughout the day. This is the same day some of L-Pod showed up in inland waters last year, and the first time they've been "in" since they were heard on the hydrophones with K-Pod the night of January 8th. I caught them off the west side first thing in the morning.

L27 Ophelia and L82 Kasatka in Haro Strait on the morning of June 3rd

J-Pod was a day late for their date with Ls. They came FLYING down from the north, traveling from Qualicom Beach to Lime Kiln (over 100 miles) in about 24 hours. They went porpoising past Lime Kiln in the afternoon on June 4th, but Ls had apparently already left as they weren't seen that day.

J41 Eclipse and her son J51 cruise past Lime Kiln on June 4

It's hard to photograph porpoising whales, so I tried taking a few wide angle shots

Some of the whales were way offshore, including this breacher

When Js didn't come back up on the evening of June 4th, I figured it could be a good early morning on the west side. After being overcast for a bunch of days the sun was finally shining first thing in the morning. When I got out to Lime Kiln at 7 AM, Js were in the middle of passing by. These are some of my favorite moments: those mornings when the water is glassy calm, the light is stunning as the sun just peaks over the island, and all is quiet except for the sound of whales breathing. No boats, no people....just me and the whales.

J45 Se-Yi'-Chn and J31 Tsuchi

J26 Mike

J36 Alki and her son J52

The whales were very spread out and traveling very slowly - for a long time after they passed I could still see them just milling off the point to the north of the lighthouse. Finally it seemed like they were heading north, so I went up to San Juan County Park since it looked like they were getting closer to shore. Many of the whales had grouped up and were just milling off the park up there, with the Olympic Mountains in the background.

While I was there, they turned and started heading back south. So much for breakfast! Back to Lime Kiln :)

A tender moment between J37 Hy'shqa and her younger brother J45 Se-Yi'-Chn

While Hy'shqa and her brother Se-Yi'-Chn were rolling around together, Hy'shqa's son J49 T'ilem I'nges was hanging out with his aunt J40 Suttles. T'ilem I'nges ended up right in the middle of the fray while J26 Mike decided to pursue Suttles with amorous intentions!

J26 Mike and his "sea snake" going after J40 Suttles (you can see the little dorsal fin of T'ilem I'nges to the left of Mike's pec fin)

J26 Mike lifts J40 Suttles out of the water

J26 Mike lunges after J40 Suttles

As you can see, it's been a pretty good couple of weeks for orca sightings! I thought I had better take this chance to catch up on sharing photos here, in the hopes that there are many more whale encounters to come!

One more startling observation from this morning....I knew there wasn't a lot of snow this winter, but it was amazing to see how little snow was on the Olympic Mountains across the way. Indirectly this is bad news for our salmon-eating whales. Snow melt provides crucial water for spawning salmon, and without enough water in the streams, salmon returns will be low.

Not much snow on the Olympic Mountains in June