[Previous entry: "Lecture Saturday By Wa Iditarod Sled Dog Racer"] [Next entry: "Free Check-Up Courtesy Of The Lions"]

06/05/2008: "K & L Pods Return To SJI With New Baby"

(photo by Erin Heydenreich. Photos taken under MMPA permit #532-1822) )Members of J-, K- and L-pods travel up the coast of San Juan Island, June 3, 2008. This is the first encounter with the K's and many of the L's since they were photographed off Monterey California January 27, 2008 and Sekiu, Washington, February 29, 2008.

The Center for Whale Research has posted photos and information on a sighting of a new Orca in K-pod.

The photo left (photo by Kelley Balcomb-Bartok) shows “An exuberant new calf in Kpod lifts it's head in a ‘spyhop’ while playing with several members of it's immediate family just below the surface.”

The Center for Whale Research reported they “can confirm K-pod and most of the remaining L's returned to the San Juan Islands July 4, 2007, when arriving whales were reported in Johnstone Strait heading south into Blackfish Sound on July 2, 2007 by Mary Borrowman of Stubbs Island Whale Watching. The whales then engaged in a "superpod" gathering in the Strait of Georgia during the afternoon of July 4, 2007.”

A superpod occurs when two or more pod families are in the same area. and appear to be moving together. or near each other.

The Center for Whale Research announcement and posting of photos shows the superpod has returned.