Today was quite the day with lots of wildlife to be seen! Caitlin, Captain Mike, and I were paired up as a team once again and had a fabulous trip! It looked dark and ominous as we went though Cattle Pass out towards the Olympic Mountains, but it never rained a drop. We saw lots of Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoise, and Bald Eagles as we motored out towards the whales. It's always great to see such a variety of wildlife!
When we got to the L-22s (part of our Southern Resident Killer Whales) they were spread out feeding on Chinook Salmon. There are actually ten different ecotypes of Killer Whales around the world. We happen to have three ecotypes here in the Northern Pacific. Differences between these three whales include diet, morphology, vocal tradition, and genetics! Our Southern Resident Killer Whales feed primarily on Chinook Salmon (about 85% of their diet), whereas Transient Killer Whales feed on marine mammals!
Spirit, Skana and Solstice, our L-22 subgroup, ended up coming together and taking a break from foraging. With that change in behavior came a change in spirits! The whales started breaching, spy-hoping, tail slapping and cartwheeling through the water! It was a great show, I really believe these particular whales love the attention. They always seem to do something very cool! All in all, it was another great day one the water!
Heather, Naturalist, M/V Sea Lion
San Juan Safaris