After Orca populations in the San Juan region dropped a bit in 2008, they rebounded in 2009 with the births of five Orca calves, and 2010 is off to a great start with the birth of another calf on January 3rd. There are now 88 resident Orca whales in the San Juan Islands. To read the complete story, visit the
A baby orca has been born in the L pod of Puget Sound killer whales.
The new orca was photographed Saturday near Port Townsend and confirmed as a new calf by the Center for Whale Research. It has been assigned the number L-113 and is the fourth baby orca spotted this year.
The new arrival brings the population known as Puget Sound southern residents orcas to 86. The population reached 140 or more in the last century, but their numbers have fluctuated in recent decades. They were listed as endangered in 2005.
This is the time of year when the killer whale pods leave Puget Sound for the ocean. But Ken Balcomb at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor said the experts who monitor the whales hope to see them another time or two this year.
The orca’s mother is presumed to be L-94, a 14-year-old female named Calypso. If the parentage is confirmed, the baby would be her first calf.
If it is a first-born, chances are not good that it will survive past its first birthday, compared to a female’s later offspring, experts say. That is because females "offload" high levels of toxic chemicals to their first-born, both in the womb and in their milk.
Jami Nagel, a naturalist for Island Adventures, captured a picture of the new calf off Point Wilson near Port Townsend on Saturday, as the pod of whales headed into Puget Sound.
The Center for Whale Research has confirmed that the calf had never been seen before.
"We’re hoping they’ll come back in so we can get another look at the calf," said Susan Berta of Orca Network. "Sometimes in winter, they’ll make their first jaunt out and then come back in."
Early Monday morning, orca calls were heard on a hydrophone off Port Townsend, where they presumably were heading out to the ocean through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Berta said.
Just one year earlier in October 2008, scientists reported seven Puget Sound killer whales had gone missing and were presumed dead. It was the biggest decline among the orca population in nearly a decade. The reason for the deaths is unknown, but scientists suspect pollution and a lack of food may be the whales’ biggest problems.
Three other baby orcas were spotted this year: J44 and L112 in February and J45 in March.
Information from: Kitsap Sun, http://www.kitsapsun.com/, Bellingham Herald http://www.bellinghamherald.com, AP http://www.ap.org
The orca whale sightings have remained strong through the month of August, with frequent sightings of the 3 local pods (J, K & L pods), as well as transient orcas and minke whales. We are entering the final 2 weeks of our operating season, with our San Juan Whale Watching Tours ending on September 7th. However, our cruises to Victoria, on which we also see orca whales frequently, will continue through September 27th.
We seem to have hit the peak season for Orca Whale watching over the past two weeks, with frequent sightings of all 3 local pods (J, K and L pods). Yesterday (July we even saw what we call a "Superpod" - a gathering of all three local pods of Orca whales! With excellent weather forecast through the weekend, this is a great time to visit the San Juan Islands or Victoria, BC.
Over the last two weeks we have moved from operating only weekends, to our current 7-days/week service. The whale watching has been very good over the last two weeks, with Orca and Minke whales seen most often, along will occasional Gray and Humpback whale sightings. The weather continues to be great as well, with calm waters and lots of sun!
The whale watching has been excellent over the last two weeks, with frequent Orca and Minke whale sightings. Just as impressive is the weather we have had, calm conditions in the islands and lots and lots of sun! Temperatures are supposed to sneak into the low 80’s this week, and will hopefully extend into our scheduled trips this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now is a great time to visit the islands, or go whale watching, before the summer vacation crowds hit Bellingham and the San Juan Islands.
Our San Juan Island Commuter service to the San Juan Islands, as well as our whale watching tours, began this season on Friday and it’s been a great start to the season! The weather has been perfect, with lots of sun and temperatures in the mid-to-upper 60’s. Best of all though, the Orca whales have been seen on all of our whale watching trips so far! They started off just off shore of San Juan Island, but have been seen further north more recently, close to Pt. Roberts. We currently have seats available for our tours next weekend, May 22-25, but space is limited, so call or book online soon.
I just came across a great Orca whale blog site called Whale Of A ‘Purpose’ written by a local whale enthusiast that is packed with great photos and lots of tips on identifying whales. With the sun out today, looking at this blog makes me wish we were still running tours….spring is just around the corner though!
Despite the rain and clouds the past few days the whale sightings haven’t been too bad. We were unable to see them on Friday - they were just too far out of our range. However, we saw Minke and Orca whales every other day, including another Superpod sighting (all three resident pods of Orca together).The weather is much nicer today and should last until the middle of the week - hopefully this weather will stay a little longer though!
Yet another great week of whale watching! Usually the peak whale watching season is May - mid-July, however, it seems like the sightings are getting better and better as we get further into the summer season. This photo was taken by our captain on August 6th. For the last 7 days we have been seeing J and L pods, along with one day where we saw transient whales (whales that don’t stay within the Puget Sound region year-round). It looks like there will be some light clouds moving in this afternoon, but then the forecast looks great for the rest of the week.
This is the time of year when the killer whale pods leave Puget Sound for the ocean. But Ken Balcomb at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor said the experts who monitor the whales hope to see them another time or two this year.
we even saw what we call a "Superpod" - a gathering of all three local pods of Orca whales! With excellent weather forecast through the weekend, this is a great time to visit the San Juan Islands or Victoria, BC.
