The orcas have only been around very sporadically for the past few days which is quite typical for the month of August (back in 2001 the resident orcas left the area for weeks in August). Perhaps the Chinook salmon are not as plentiful as they are in other summer months or maybe the whales just need a change of scenery so to speak. For whatever the reason, the whales have been traveling out west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca intermittently over the past days. They don't seem to be going far, however. They may be gone for one day and then back the next depending on the tides and their food source. We always miss them when they travel out west toward the huge Pacific, but that's not to say there isn't a whole diversity of animals to see when they are not around...
Minke whales seem to plentiful! I have had some of the best encounters with minke whales over the previous 10 days than I've had in my entire 10 years working in the San Juans. Minke whales are a small (about 30 feet long max) baleen whale that appear to be found in this area year-round. Minkies are the most plentiful whale specie in the world and can be found in almost any ocean. Sometimes minkies get a bad rep because they are a little bit harder to watch than some whale species - they don't really have a visible blow when they take a breath, they travel in unpredictable directions (why we often call them "slinky minkies"), they don't exhibit a lot of percussive surface behaviors (i.e. breaching, spyhopping, tail-lobbing, or fluking), and when they come up to breathe you only see a bit of their back and a very tiny dorsal fin (in other words, if you blink, you will miss them). So now you're probably thinking, 'wow, minke whales must not be very fun to watch'. WRONG! Nothing could be further from the truth and we have to show the minkies some love because they are truly wonderful in their own way. One of the most exciting things I have experienced in the past few days was watching a minke whale feed. The south end of San Juan Island is a very exciting place to hang out. This year there have been bait balls (big schools of small fish - minke food) everywhere in this area. You can always tell where these bait balls are because of all the various types of marine birds squealing and squawking in tight groups at the surface of the water. The birds remind me of a group of young kids diving for candy after a pinata has been cracked open. MINE! MINE! MINE! Suddenly all the birds will lift off the water as a giant mouth erupts through the surface engulfing all those tiny fish! A minke whale! Wow, is this ever a neat sight to behold! After this happens the birds always seem to be a bit dismayed. They settle back on the surface of the water and become very quiet.
Lets also not forget that minkies are very curious creatures. I remember one instance last summer where a young minke whale circled our boat for several minutes laying on it's side staring up at the crowd of people that were thrilled by it's presence. This summer has been exciting in that I've had a few trips where a minke has surfaced very close to the boat almost as if to check us quickly before continuing with the business of feeding.
One other interesting thing I have observed this summer is that I have frequently seen minkies hanging out with our resident orcas. A month ago, L78 "Gaia" was swimming by himself near False Bay and for a while, he had two minke whales swimming on either side of him. A few days after that we were watching the K12 subpod play together off the south end of the island and there was a minke whale in the mix playing right along side the youngsters of the group. Several days ago I watched the J22's, the J17's, and the J11's surf waves in Spieden channel with a minke. Minkies may not be as cosmopolitan, "showy", or as acrobatic as the orcas, but one thing is for certain - they have their own interesting and carefully guarded secrets. It just goes to show that we humans will never truly figure out what is going on out there. We are merely observers trying to muddle a way through our own bleak, impatient, and arrogant understanding of nature.
While it has been an educational endeavor viewing minkies over the past week, our resident orcas were back in the area today and were hanging out on the south end of the island for a good chunk of the day. There is a record-breaking salmon run occurring in the area. Experts say there are 30 million sockeye salmon migrating up the Fraser River this year! This is the biggest sockeye salmon run since 1913! However, having said this, we still don't know for sure if the orcas feed on sockeye very often. We know that about 95% of their diet is made up of Chinook salmon. Like I always tell our guests on the boat - you can think of these orcas as very picky little kids that only eat macaroni and cheese from a certain restaurant. Our resident killer whales eat primarily Chinook salmon from the Fraser River!
Today we saw most of K pod, the J11's, the J17's, the J22's, and L87 "Onyx" on the south end of San Juan. They were very spread out and there was so much foraging behavior going on it was amazing! Near the end of our trip the whales began to group up near the shore line and started to travel slowly up island. They seemed to be in a frisky mood. Perhaps their tummies were full and it was time to play. We witnessed much socializing. While they were playing together, we put the hydrophone in the water to see if the whales were chatting to each other. A beautiful symphony of orcas calls flooded the speaker on the boat. What I wouldn't give to understand what they are saying to each other...
Here are some pictures from today's encounter:
L87 "Onyx" fishing offshore in the middle of Haro Strait:
K21 "Cappuccino" actively pursuing fish off of False Bay:
Playtime! A youngster rolls at the surface while playing with a friend:
In my next post... Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd spoke at the Friday Harbor Grange on Friday evening. My opinion of Captain Watson has been molded yet again and I am very happy I had the opportunity to hear him speak. More to come...
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