Best
Wishes of the Season
There's excitement over a new Southern
Resident Orca calf in the San Juans, and Pacific White Sided Dolphins
have been spotted in the Howe Sound and Saltery Bay areas. Looks like
the Humpbacks that were in the Jervis Inlet / Hotham Sound area have
finally decided to head to warmer waters.
Wishing you all a safe and happy
holiday!
Susan MacKay, Whales
and Dolphins BC
Southern
Resident Orca
Big news! It's been kept quiet to make
sure all parties confirmed, but NOAA's NW Fisheries Science Center
and the Center for Whale Research have confirmed that on December 17,
39-year old J16 (Slick) gave birth to a new baby calf in Puget Sound,
probably only a few hours judging from the fresh fetal folds, before
being seen and photographed by veteran field researcher Candice
Emmons of NWSFC. This makes J16's fifth calf since her first, J26,
was born in 1991. She was the sixteenth J pod orca photographed and
identified by Mike Bigg in 1972, and is among the oldest whose age is
known exactly. Her matriline is known as the J7's after J16's late
mother.
Pacific
White Sided Dolphins
December 21:
Just spotted what appeared to be a couple hundred porpoises in a feeding frenzy north of Horseshoe Bay. 4:00pm December 21, 2011 from Sea to Sky Highway
Posted by Anonymous to Whales and
Dolphins BC Sightings
December 20:
Around 11 am there were some Pacific
White Sided Dolphins between Saltery Bay and Texada. Looking at the
line, I can only estimate that there were around 60 to 80 of them. I
was a bit too far away to be sure, but their leaps gave the species
away.
Susan MacKay, Whales
and Dolphins BC