365 Project, Day 202
Here is my day 202 submission to my 365Project:
On the water again today! I am pretty much done working on whale watching vessels running out of Victoria Harbour but I still have friends who run the boats and once in a while I join them for a boat ride. Today we headed to San Juan Island, Washington where we first observed a couple of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) likely feeding in the productive waters of the Salish Sea near San Juan.
Not soon after we observed the minke whales, we had a lovely sighting of members of all three pods of the Endangered Southern Resident killer whale community. It appeared they were foraging as they were very spread out and milling around in all directions. There was probably some socialising going on as well since we observed some tactile behaviour and at one point one female swam belly-up and did multiple tail slaps quite near to us. We can often see them being quite surface active but multiple belly-up tail slaps is not so common!
Today's photo captures one of these tail slaps and I love that the water spraying off the tail added motion to the image.
On the water again today! I am pretty much done working on whale watching vessels running out of Victoria Harbour but I still have friends who run the boats and once in a while I join them for a boat ride. Today we headed to San Juan Island, Washington where we first observed a couple of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) likely feeding in the productive waters of the Salish Sea near San Juan.
Not soon after we observed the minke whales, we had a lovely sighting of members of all three pods of the Endangered Southern Resident killer whale community. It appeared they were foraging as they were very spread out and milling around in all directions. There was probably some socialising going on as well since we observed some tactile behaviour and at one point one female swam belly-up and did multiple tail slaps quite near to us. We can often see them being quite surface active but multiple belly-up tail slaps is not so common!
Today's photo captures one of these tail slaps and I love that the water spraying off the tail added motion to the image.
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| Glaucous winged gull (Larus glaucascens) |
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| Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) surfacing amongst Rhinocerous auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) |
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| Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) |
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| Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) |
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| Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) surfacing near San Juan Island, Washington |
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| Members of the Southern Resident killer whale community foraging and/or socialising off San Juan Island, Washington |
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| L84 male born in 1990 |
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| L41, a male born in 1977, traveling alongside another male with L82, a female born in 1990, trailing behind |
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| K27, a female born in 1994 and J19, a female born in 1979 |
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| Southern Residents being tactile (the whale on the right is rubbing its dorsal fin on the other whale) |
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| This looks like J19 (behind), born in 1979, with her daughter J41, born in 2005 |
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| This looks like J19 (behind), born in 1979, with her daughter J41, born in 2005 |
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| J27, a mature male born in 1991 |
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| Possibly L115, a young male born in 2010 |
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| Possibly L115, a young male born in 2010 |
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| Belly up! You can tell this is a female because you can see the mammary slits alongside the dark genital slit patch |
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| J17, a female born in 1977 (same age as me!) |
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| Center For Whale Research boat conducting a photo ID survey |
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| J26, a mature male born in 1991 |
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| J26, a mature male born in 1991 |
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| L27, a female estimated to be born around 1965 |
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| L89, a male born in 1993 |
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| J19, estimated to be born in 1979, traveling with other members of the Southern Resident community |
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| L89, a male born in 1993 |
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| J26, a male born in 1991 |
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| J26, a male born in 1991 |
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| Then this female started splashing around doing multiple, belly-up, tail slaps in a row! |
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| J26, a male born in 1991 |
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| Pelagic cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus) taking flight from the Chain Islands in Oak Bay near Victoria |
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| Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) hauled out on the Chain Islands in Oak Bay |
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| Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) hauled out on the Chain Islands in Oak Bay |
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| A pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) with it's head in the water...looking for something to eat perhaps? |
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| Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) |
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| I'm outta here! Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) |
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| Gulls nesting on the Chain Islands, Oak Bay |
