Transient orcas
Monterey Bay, CA
Jan. 2, 2010
Photo by
Kate Cummings
Jan. 2, 2010
My name is Kate and I am a deckhand for Sanctuary Cruises out of Moss Landing, CA. Today we spotted a group of 5 transient Orcas who had just killed a sea lion. We often saw the female with the jagged dorsal fin with parts of the carcass in her mouth. The pod was very active, swimming right along side the boat several times. One appeared to be doing "hand-stands"- frequently sticking its flukes straight out of the water. We often see this male, the one with half of a dorsal fin, near Moss Landing. It was a wonderful experience! We found them at: 36'47.3, 121'54.8. They stayed in the same general area from 11am, when we picked them up, until 12:15 when we headed in.
Kate Cummings, Monterey, CA
Transient orca CA219
plus un-IDd orca w/jagged fin
Monterey Bay, CA
Jan. 2, 2010
Photo by
Kate Cummings
Monterey Transient orca IDs from Alisa Schulman Janiger:
The photo here shows CA219 and another whale (jagged fin) that I cannot ID from this image. The only other images that I have of it were taken at sunset this year (no saddle detail); it is probably a known whale with a drastically altered dorsal fin shape.
The photo (from our Jan. 2nd Whale Report) shows CA217 (male) "Chopfin" or "Stumpy". Female on the left looks like CA216. We first saw these whales in 1998.
Very nice behavior shots!
Alisa Schulman-Janiger, California Killer Whale Project, ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project: Director
