Today myself, Brendan and Captain Pete got out on the Sea Lion to a beautiful day, hopeful whale reports, and a boat full of excited passengers. Word of the day was West side, so we went South out of Friday Harbor through the San Juan Channel. On our way down we began to see lots of wildlife feeding on a herring baitball.
Baitballs are great signs in the Salish Sea that indicate a healthy bottom layer of our rich food web. While feeding, small fish including herring and sandlance swarm into a school in defence of underwater predators including porpoise, minke whales, seals, salmon and diving birds. These predators drive the ball up towards the surface where arial predators like seagulls can take advantage of the smorgasbord. This roch bounty is a great opportunity to see a diverse collection of animals and that we did. After passing by seals, harbor porpoise, gulls, cormorants, auklets and murres eagerly feasting, we rounded cattle point and headed north into the Haro Strait on the West side of San Juan Island.
As we neared False Bay, we saw a large black dorsal fin casually rise from the water followed by the body of J26, or Mike! He has an exceptionally distonguoshed saddle patch making him easy to recognize. Because male resident killer whales will not leave their matriline (matriarchial group of Orca including a female and all of her offspring ), we inferred that the rest of the nearby whales were the J16 matriline! An interesting group, the J16's are comprised of J16 (Slick), her son J26 (Mike), her daughters J36 (Alki), J42 (Echo) and her newest calf J50, as well as Alki's new calf J52. This unique family has two out of three new calves in J pod. These youngsters are especially fun to see when they are practicing spyhopping and splashing as much as they were today.
The acrobatics were framed with manestic views of the Olympic peninsula topped with clouds. The day was so clear that Mt. Reiner even showed up in the distance! After getting some great looks at J26, watching moms and calfs swim and splash together, and the breathtaking beauty of the Haro Strait, we decided to let the pod fish in peace as we began our treck back to Friday Harbor.
Another Whale of a day in the San Juan Islands!
Naturalist Mike J
M/V Sea Lion