Sunday, February 19, 2023: J Pod | San Juan Island
Date: Sunday, February 19, 2023
Location: San Juan Channel and Spieden Channel (viewing from Reuben Tart County Park, San Juan Island)
Weather: Cloudy, 48 degrees Fahrenheit with 6mph winds from SW
Tide: Flood
Pods/Matrilines: J Pod
Total Whale Count: 25
Behaviors: Traveling, foraging, socializing
Boat Count: 5 (3 whale watch boats, 1 research boat, 1 private boat)
February 19 was World Whale Day, and what better way to celebrate than a surprise visit by J Pod! Orca Conservancy’s Director of Development Tamara Kelley was on San Juan Island, when a Facebook sightings report came through about an unidentified pod of orcas on the east side of the island. Thanks to a fellow whale watching friend Silver, and the sightings pages, Tamara was able to set out and catch up with the killer whales.
At first, we were totally anticipating this to be a pod of transient (Bigg’s) killer whales based on the location. Tamara set out to Reuben Tart County Park on the northeast end of the island in hopes of intercepting them. Upon arrival, she quickly located them through binoculars closer to Shaw Island and could make out the exhales. At this time, there were two whale watch boats on scene, Island Adventures and Prince of Whales, who both shortly left the scene.
After about 45 minutes of arriving, J Pod neared closer and was soon visible from afar with the naked eye as they continued north through San Juan channel. Shortly after, the research boat from the Center of Whale Research arrived on scene. Though we can be certain as we were viewing through telephoto lenses, it looked like a few of the orcas “greeted” the Center’s vessel, with one appearing to spy hope immediately next to the boat. J Pod continued on in an eastward direction into Speiden Channel. We later learned that after leaving Spieden Channel, they went north up to the Gulf Islands traveling through Swansen Channel.
During the few hours we spent viewing J Pod, we were able to positively ID all the individuals from the J16 matriline, members from the J11s, members from the J14s, and the J22s. There were several orcas further out in the distance that we could not ID, but we presume these to be the J19s and the J17s. There was a wide variety of behaviors including lots of foraging, traveling, and socializing. In our video highlight you can see what appears to be J27 catching a fish.
This was a very exciting day, and not too often that we get to view Southern Residents on the east side of the island. We are hopeful that their continued presence in the Salish Sea is an indication that they are getting plenty to eat