Excitement!

Well, if you haven't heard by now, there is good news and bad news for our Southern Resident Orcas. In January, all three pods of whales arrived into our local waters, a very rare thing. No one really knows if this means that there isn't enough food to eat and so the whales are swimming further to find things to eat, or if perhaps this is a signal of some sort of global climate change. It seems the more we learn about these mighty creatures, the more we know that we don't know!

Sadly, it appears at this very early and preliminary stage that L57, also known as Faith, has not shown up with other members of the SRKW community. But I for one haven't given up yet. Faith has been known to kind of swim in his own circle since his immediate family is no longer with us. He was frequently seen last summer in the company of J-Pod & K-Pod females, so who knows for sure at this point. What makes it harder to ascertain is that unlike most whales, orcas do not float at the surface when they die. They sink, so it means that more often than not, we don't really know what happens to the whales. They just don't show up when they return to their summer waters.

Happily, it appears that as of this point, there are not one, not two, but THREE new baby orcas already! One new calf was observed with L-Pod, and 2 were seen very recently with J-Pod. It is all but confirmed that the new moms are J14, who lost a calf in 2007, and J17! I have not seen a J-Pod whale yet (darn it I keep missing them by hours!) But I hope to be able to post a picture or two soon.

In the meantime, we on San Juan continue to watch March roar like a lion, and can't wait for the spring-time lamb to show up! So keep your ears open on the hydrophones, and your eyes on the horizon!