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EncDate:01/07/23 

EncSeq:1

Enc#:32

ObservBegin:08:58 AM

ObservEnd:12:53 PM

Vessel:Orcinus

Other Vessel:

Staff:Dave Ellifrit, Michael Weiss

Other Observers:Alyssa Kelley, Federica Spina

Pods:J, L

LocationDescr:Haro Strait

Start Latitude:48 32.05

Start Longitude:123 10.35

End Latitude:48 34.94

End Longitude:123 11.75

EncSummary:

The team got an early morning report of residents headed north on the west side of San Juan Island. They left Snug at 847, hoping to catch the whales passing Snug as they continued north.

They didn't see any sign of the whales off Mitchell Bay, and headed slowly down island. They found a large group of resting whales just south of San Juan County Park at 858. This group was composed of a large portion of J pod, formed up in a rough resting line. The team could see blows from another group of apparently resting whales further south, which they assumed was the rest of J pod and the L12s.

The team did a single drone flight on the northern group of Js (see Aerial Encounter 5), but then saw that the whales were turning back south and starting to speed up and spread out. The team left the front group and headed down island, with a main goal of getting better photos of L22, and more photos of the new calves.

The team caught up with a pair of whales heading south which turned out to be J44 and L121. The two young males were socializing and generally goofing off as they made their way down island. Further south, the team identified L77 travelling by herself.

The team moved inshore near Kanaka Bay, finding J47, J46, J31, and J56 spread out and apparently foraging. After briefly documenting these animals, the team moved towards Pile Point where they found L94, L113, and new calf L127. As on the previous day, L127 was sticking closely beside L94, which confirmed that L94 was the mother. The calf was being very social with its mom and sister, spending a lot of time rolled over on top of other whales. We managed to get a few shots of the calf's underside which appeared to show that it was female, but we would need further images to solidly confirm.

Further up island, we located L22, L25, and L85 spread out and moving north. We focused on L22 as she was the only individual of the L12s that we did not get very good pictures of on the previous day. After taking a couple photo-ID passes with L22, we moved back to L94, L113, and L127 before cutting offshore and once again finding J44 and L121.

The team started heading back towards home and found L22 and L85 grouped up and moving fast and directionally up island, making for a much better photo-ID situation. The team paralleled the whales, who were soon joined by L94, L113, and L127.

The team received a tip from the SR3 research team that L119 and her calf L126 were further down island off Lime Kiln. The team went back that way, but initially only found J pod whales: the J35s, J53, and J27. Moving back towards Mitchell Bay, the team saw a group of whales further in shore, and identified one of the individuals as L119. Sure enough, when the team got closer they saw that all of the L77s, including the new calf, were together heading north.

The team stalled out south of Kellet Bluffs to end the encounter. J27 passed them by heading north, and the team ended the encounter at 1253.

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