[Sarah | 09/03/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 02:00pm]
Yesterday’s Adventure Whale Watch was a great reminder of why I love September so much out here in the San Juans. We had so much wildlife to look for and had great encounters with whales!
We started our afternoon heading north out of Friday Harbor through San Juan Channel. We pointed for a few wildlife hot spots at Green Point on Spieden Island and then around Sentinel Island. We found harbor porpoises, harbor seals, and even some bald eagles!
As we continued on our way north we came upon a group of orcas in Northern Haro Strait… these were not just any orcas. These were members of our Southern Resident community of killer whales, one of the most critically endangered populations of animals on the planet. This population of 75 individuals is separated into three distinct pods, designated J, K & L. Yesterday we had members of J and L pods pushing north around Stuart Island as they travelled towards Canadian waters in search of salmon. These whales rely heavily on the depleted stocks of Chinook salmon in our area, which make up 80% of their diet. This specialization means that the population of orcas’ presence, absence, and abundance are totally dictated by the presence, absence, and abundance of the salmon. With less than 10% of our salmon left in the area we have been seeing theses very special whales less and less.
After leaving the Southern Residents, we got another report of more orcas just to the south! We headed straight there and found a group of Bigg’s killer whales traveling North through San Juan Channel. These orcas differ from the Southern Residents behaviorally and genetically, the most obvious difference being their diet. Bigg’s killer whales are marine mammal eaters, feeding on mostly harbor seals here in our waters. Since their prey population is doing very well (harbor seals are sitting at their carrying capacity on the ecosystem), the Bigg’s population is doing very well in comparison to the Southern Residents. We think that we have over 225 individuals who can be seen in our waters within this population.
It was a most excellent day spent on the water!