Pacific White-Sided Dolphins Visit the Orcas

Well, just another reason I LOVE my job - no two days are EVER the same. Take today for example: we watched Pacific white-sided dolphins (a.k.a. lags) play with the resident orcas. I have NEVER in all my years working here seen lags in these waters and certainly not over a dozen surfing along with the orcas. Wow, I'm sort of beside myself right now...

Although, I must say the orcas did not seem all that excited by their presence. The lags loved to surf along in front of the large males. I think they felt it was sort of a game. However I noticed the orcas, after catching their breath, would do a long, deep dive. The lags, meanwhile would flit around on the surface and it was almost as if they were saying, "now where did that orca go?!" Suddenly, the big male orca would surface a quarter mile away and lags seemed to shout "THERE HE IS!" and then go racing toward him. I can't help but wonder if the orcas view the lags as being a bit pesty... Sort of similar to when we have a mosquito buzzing in our ear. Nevertheless it was still very interesting to watch the interaction between the two animals. Some photos documenting the day:

L89 "Solstice" surfaces with lags in front of him:

L79 "Skana" with lags:

A close up of our Pacific White-Sided Dolphin friends:

"THERE HE IS!!" - Lags chasing after a big male orca after he had been down on a long dive (the lags are the splashes you see):

And last but not least we had a wonderful parting pass by L41 "Mega":

I wonder if we will see the dolphins again tomorrow...?