J Pod
In the morning, we received reports that Southern Resident killer whales were inbound towards the San Juan Islands. It was a sunny day with mild to medium wind and ideal for collecting fecal samples. Eba, Jim, Giles, Research Assistants Aisha, and Nikhela left the dock to fuel up before meeting the whales. We made contact at around 1:30 pm and got a report from The Center for Whale Research that members of J pod were present.
The whales were spread along the west side of San Juan Island, and we made first contact with a large male near Hannah Heights. Giles identified him as J38. Following our contact with J38, we saw many more members of J Pod exhibiting mixed behaviors from play to logging. We have confirmation that we were with J19, J47, J44, J53, and the J16s. Between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm, we observed a lot of breaching, tail slaps, and pec slaps. Additionally, we observed modified rest, with some whales coming together to log. Around 4:00 pm, Eba hit on a scent, and we found the first fecal sample of the day shortly after.
Between 5:15-5:25 pm, we collected another sample offshore of the San Juan Island County Park. The scent of the fecal matter was so strong even we could smell it! We returned to our home port around 6:00 pm and froze the samples after additional processing in the evening.
Research Vessel
R/V Cheena
Species
Southern Resident Killer Whales
Pods
J Pod
Research Activities
Fecal Collection, Behavior Data
J Pod
We started the day departing Snug harbor and heading up towards Point Roberts in the strait of Georgia responding to early whale sighting reports. When we arrived on scene we recognized the individuals we were seeing to be members of J Pod. There were about 25 whales spread throughout the Strait of Georgia in groups of two and three. We followed a few groups with Eba working to detect fecal scents. We followed J59 and her mother down through the Strait of Georgia for a while towards Stewart Island observing a few tail slaps. Towards the end of the day we positioned ahead of the main group as we were heading back to Snug Harbor and saw J16 rapidly traveling south.
J Pod
With an early morning notice that whales were on the west side of San Juan Island, the Wild Orca team departed Snug Harbor at 9:46 AM and headed down Haro Strait along the west side of San Juan Island. Whales were encountered just offshore of Hannah Heights at 10:15 in the morning.
With good wind, calm waters, the team was able to conduct distant lateral sampling behind and to the side of the whales’ path. With Eba’s keen nose, the research vessel is able to stay 300-1000 meters behind the whales which minimizes any potential disturbance.
In less than an hour the team located and collected the first sample of the day. Over the course of the next four hours Eba, Jim and Giles collected five additional samples. Many thanks to the Center for Whale Research drone team who notified us that one of the whales they were video documenting had defecated! We were able to make our way to that location and collect that valuable sample.
J Pod
We received a report that members of J Pod were heading towards east point on Saturna Island heading towards boundary pass around noon. We arrived at Snug Harbor at 1pm and departed from the dock shortly after. We travelled north up Haro Strait and found the first of the whales as they were porpoising south around Turn Point on Stuart Island. The whales were spread across the whole strait from Sydney Island back to Battleship Island in pairs or alone. We tried to track them but the water were not favorable and the whales were porpoising away from us so we close to wait back at the dock until conditions improved.
At 3:45 we once again departed from Snug Harbor with the hope of intersecting with the last of the whales heading south. We encountered a mother and calf pair on the west side of Henry Island near the bird rookery. We trailed that pair for about 20 minutes as they were foraging. Because our focal group included the youngest calf, J59 and her mom J37, we increased our following distance to minimize any chance of interference. The tide was still flooding and we were positioned well north of the whales in a position that would be optimal for detecting fecal samples in the water. We ended our research voyage as the mother and calf pair ended their foraging bout and began traveling south at fast speed.