Orca Network - Whale Sighting Network

Since our last report we have learned that J54 is a boy and, thanks to photos taken by two of our most dedicated volunteers, the Center for Whale Research was able to also confirm that J53 is a girl! Of the eight living Southern Resident calves born since December 2014 two are female, four are male, and L123 is still unknown.

J53 and J54 are members of the J17s who along with the J 22s showed up in Puget Sound in early April. For the next nine days these two matrilines stayed in the Sound, primarily on the east side of Whidbey Island in Saratoga Passage with comings and goings into Holmes Harbor. Visits this time of year are not unheard of, but it is unusual for the salmon eating orcas to spend time in either of those places in the spring. Word at the time was locals were catching resident Blackmouth Chinook salmon; this left us all speculating perhaps the Js may have been as well.

Sadly we’ve three losses to the Southern Residents to share, two known individuals and one neonate. The newest calf J55, first seen January 18^th with J14 and J37, was not seen again by the Center for Whale Research in follow up encounters and is presumed deceased. Mid April, DFO announced the death of 20 year-old L pod male L95 Nigel and confirmed the deceased neonate female calf found near Sooke, BC on March 23rd, 2016 was a southern resident. This is a double blow to this struggling endangered community.

Over this Winter/early Spring we welcomed seven of the population of 10-12 North Puget Sound Gray whales (recently named the “Sounders") who have been identified, and their comings and goings tracked since the early 1990’s by Cascadia Research Collective (CRC). Wednesday February 17^th, while out searching for a reported entangled humpback off Edmonds, I and one of our volunteers encountered and documented the first Gray of 2016, #723, who was found foraging off Possession Point, south Whidbey Island. Over the next month six other “Sounders” followed;  #44, #49, #56, #383, #531. We are still getting reports of two who have been here this February-May season to feast on the ghost shrimp they find in the intertidal zones of north Puget Sound.

Working in collaboration with CRC more closely this year, Whale Sighting Network volunteers have been instrumental in reporting sightings to researchers doing field studies and keeping track of them, as well as assisting CRC and the local Marine Mammal Stranding Networks by locating and keeping track of two straggler emaciated young grays who did not have enough reserves to make the long migration north and came in to the more quiet waters of Puget Sound to die.

We are grateful for your support that enables us to keep the network moving forward, collaborating with various groups and researchers, and ultimately helping the whales by way of educating the public about their cultures, prey, habitat, boating regulations and everything else they need to survive.

Links:

• Gray whale #723 foraging off Whidey Island, Alisa Lemire Brooks
• J17s & J22s & playful babes in Holmes Harbor, Sara HysongShimazu
• Learn more about our Sighting Network at the Orca Network site

More baby news to share! Three new calves were born to the Southern Residents since our last update.

This brings the total to 9 calves since December 2015. Of the 5 whose genders are known J50 is the only female - the 4 newest J53, L123, J54 & J55’s genders have yet to be determined.

Thanks to our Whale Sighting Network, we were alerted to the presence of a large pod off Vashon the morning of November 10, 2015. It was while watching Ks and Ls a short time later off West Seattle, Orca Network staff and a long time volunteer noticed and documented a new calf. We followed the protocol we have in place with the Center for Whale Research and NOAA Fisheries to not announce the new calf until confirmed by researchers, and December 6, 2015 the new calf was seen and confirmed by CWR and announced. L123 is the first offspring of L103 Lapis.

Ten days later, December 16, CWR staff announced the birth of another calf, this one designated J54 born to J28 Polaris. J54 was first seen on December 1^st by one of the whale watch captains off San Juan Island and was officially confirmed by CWR staff when Js showed up in Haro Strait on December 16^th.

Then along comes sweet little J55 first seen in Puget Sound on January 18th. Our Whale Sighting Network alerted NOAA-NWFSC researchers to the presence of orcas traveling northbound from the Seattle area. Fisheries staff caught up to the pod just north of Seattle off Edmonds where sadly they first discovered and were able to document J31 Tsuchi pushing around a deceased neonate. A short time later in Admiralty Inlet they caught up with a lead group where they discovered a 2^nd healthy newborn traveling alongside J14 Samish and her daughter J37 Talequah. CWR confirmed and designated the new calf as J55 and will need at least one or more encounters before they can determine maternity. 

On December 31st, thanks to our Whale Sighting Network, Southern Resident orcas were sighted, reported, and tracked by our staff and volunteer network, enabling NOAA Fisheries' Brad Hanson and crew to get out with the whales to confirm we had K pod in Puget Sound. This sighting allowed NOAA Fisheries to deploy a satellite tag on K33, providing tracks of K pods' travels from then through January 27th, giving us information useful in NOAA's designation of critical habitat and prey needing protection to help the Southern Residents. You can view these maps and continued updates at the NOAA-NWFS 2016 Southern Resident killer whale satellite tagging website. 

HUMPBACKS

The abundance of Humpback whales in the inland waters of the Salish Sea continued well into January. Reports of at least 2-3 humpbacks feeding off the newest hot spot, Eglon, north Kitsap Peninsula, by Sighting Network staff and volunteers and the many residents and beach goers became a near daily ritual the first few weeks of January.  One photo in particular by Toby Black (see below) caught the attention of our volunteer Sara Hysong-Shimazu who noticed an anatomical feature known as a hemispherical lobe indicating a female, which we were able to confirm with Dr. Fred Sharp, research biologist at the Alaska Whale Foundation. This female has been widely photographed in this area on a regular basis since September 2015. Our data has been used by Cascadia Research in Olympia, and the Alaska Whale Foundation, as well as the Center for Whale Research and other agencies, to document the recolonizing of Puget Sound by humpbacks.

 Your donations are greatly appreciated and allow us to continue our outreach, education, and public awareness of these majestic beings of the sea and the importance of caring for and sharing the waters in a manner respecting of all species. 

Links:

• K & L pods, 11-10-15, W Seattle - Alisa Lemire BrooksOrcaNetwork
• K & L pods, 11-10-15, Part 2 - Alisa Lemire BrooksOrcaNetwork
• J Pod - Puget Sound,1-18-6. Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network