ORCAS!
Residents and Transients
We saw resident and transient killer whales today! This almost never happens, transients avoid resident orcas, but today they were about 5 miles from each other. We went north, to Point Roberts. Here we watched resident orcas. We had heard these resident orcas were members of K-pod. As we watched these animals we noticed a big bull. We identified him by his saddle patch, this male was actually L-78, and we also saw L-2. L-2 is actually L-78’s mommy! Resident orcas have a very unique family structure, they never leave their moms.
On the way back, about 5 miles from where we left our resident orcas, we found transients. They we very close to the shore line of Patos Island. We even got to see a spy hop. This transient may have been looking for some seals. We watched and all noticed some of the subtle difference from resident to transient orcas. Transient orcas have a more pointed dorsal fin tip and seem to travel into smaller bays and closer to shore.
Remember our Southern Resident Orcas are an endangered species; anything you can do to help salmon will help the resident orcas, because that’s what they eat. “It’s all about the salmon”.
Always a great adventure with San Juan Safaris!
Naturalist Jeannette
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
We saw resident and transient killer whales today! This almost never happens, transients avoid resident orcas, but today they were about 5 miles from each other. We went north, to Point Roberts. Here we watched resident orcas. We had heard these resident orcas were members of K-pod. As we watched these animals we noticed a big bull. We identified him by his saddle patch, this male was actually L-78, and we also saw L-2. L-2 is actually L-78’s mommy! Resident orcas have a very unique family structure, they never leave their moms.
On the way back, about 5 miles from where we left our resident orcas, we found transients. They we very close to the shore line of Patos Island. We even got to see a spy hop. This transient may have been looking for some seals. We watched and all noticed some of the subtle difference from resident to transient orcas. Transient orcas have a more pointed dorsal fin tip and seem to travel into smaller bays and closer to shore.
Remember our Southern Resident Orcas are an endangered species; anything you can do to help salmon will help the resident orcas, because that’s what they eat. “It’s all about the salmon”.
Always a great adventure with San Juan Safaris!
Naturalist Jeannette
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
2 Comments:
We loved it! We saw these Orcas from our SanJuan county campsite at 7.00am, and by 2.00 pm they were near White Rock. Seeing Transients on the way home was really a treat too. We learned a lot about Orcas - thank-you!
By
mevl, at 9:02 AM
What a day! We first saw these Orcas swimming by our SanJuan County campsite at 7.00 am. By the time you found them at 2.30 they were near White Rock. Seeing those Transients on the way home was a treat too. We were pleasantly suprised how calm the water was the whole time - no trouble with sea sickness at all. Thank-you for teaching us so much about Orcas.
By
mevl, at 9:08 AM
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