By Alisa Lemire Brooks | Orca Network Whale Sighting Network Coordinator
Welcome to new Southern Resident Orca calf L124!
Since we are in the throes of gray whales feeding in North Puget Sound this update is primarily about the gray whales, but one wonderful and hopeful piece of news for the Southern Resident orcas since our last report is the welcoming of a new calf! L124 was first seen on January 10th swimming alongside L77 Matia and was confirmed by the Center for Whale Research on January 11th.
See CWR’s encounter report with many beautiful photos of new calf L124 and her/his mom L77 and other SRKWs at Center for Whale Research Encounter 2.
Gray Whales
2018 was an unusual year for the North Puget Sound Grays (NPS grays) with the addition of three new gray whales (PCFG CRC185, CRC2246 or Unknown #1), CRC2234 or Unknown #2) who found their way to the feeding areas in the north end last spring and fed with the other known NPS grays. As reported in previous reports, these three newcomers stayed over; 2234 stayed into late fall, 185 and 2246 throughout the winter and are still present.
2019 started out unusual as well. Typically we expect the first arrivals of the known North Puget Sound (NPS) grays mid/late February to early March. In 2019 the first old-timer NPS gray was confirmed in Possession Sound on January 11th, 4-6 weeks early! It would be another 7 weeks before the next old-timer was confirmed when on March 2nd #49 Patch was ID’d as the whale feeding off the Snohomish Delta. The others have been arriving in fairly quick succession; 383, 56, 531,44, and 22. It has been interesting getting reports of newbies 185 and 2246 being seen regularly feeding and socializing with the others. We have not had a confirmed sighting of the 3rd newbie, 2234, since late November, but we hope s/he finds her way back.
We appreciate your support and contributions greatly. Whale sightings through our Whale Sighting Network (WSN) provide critical information about the travels of the whales, and timely reports enable Orca Network to alert researchers who can then obtain photo identification and prey and fecal samples from the whales during their visits into Puget Sound. When researchers are not on the water Orca Network WSN staff, volunteers, contributors, and collaborators are able to at least obtain IDs, travel patterns, and behaviors, which all contribute important information on this small population of grays who have been coming inland Puget Sound to feed since the early 1990’s. As of this update nine whales have been accounted for in 2019: 22, 44, 49, 53, 56, 185, 383, 531, 2246.
Included below are a few words regarding the North Puget Sound Grays from John Calambokids, Cascadia Research, and here is a link to an article which includes other quotes by John on the situation with the grays along the migration:
This is certainly an interesting new development this year. I suspect this may say something about prey resources elsewhere (or difficulties there). There have been some big changes in PCFG (Pacific Coast Feeding Group) distribution and numbers in some of their regular areas the last two years as well. It continues to be of great value where anyone gets good ID shots of the NPS gray whales especially in these unusual times since may be key to interpreting what happens going forward.
John Calambokidis, Cascadia Research
Also see this KING 5 TV Story about the North Puget Sound Grays.
Thanks to your support, and the thousands of people who submite whale sightings to Orca Network, we are able to continue providing this important data for researchers for all cetacean species in the Salish Sea and Pacific Coast. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, and would like to learn more about the whales of the Salish Sea, stop in and visit our Langley Whale Center on Whidbey Island, and join us for our annual Welcome the Whales Parade and Festival April 13th - 14th in Langley, to learn about and celebrate our local gray whales!
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