September 14, 2023: J Pod | San Juan Island
Date: Thursday, September 14, 2023
Location: County Park and Lime Kiln Point State Park, San Juan Island, WA
Weather: Sunny, 59 degrees Fahrenheit with 3mph winds from SW
Tide: Ebb
Pods: J Pod
Total Whale Count: 25
Behaviors: Traveling, foraging, play
Boat Count: 3 (private vessels)
Members of J Pod passing Lime Kiln Point State Park at dawn (Photo by Kendra Nelson)
Members of Orca Conservancy including Kendra Nelson (Board Secretary) and myself Tamara Kelley (Director of Development), had planned a camping trip to San Juan Island. We had planned months in advance and reserved a site at County Park, in the hopes the Southern Resident killer whales would pay a visit, which is common during early September.
The two days prior to our trip J Pod came into Central Puget Sound for the first time since the Spring. Admittedly I wasn’t feeling too optimistic about our chances of seeing them, because typically once they exit the Sound they make their way into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and return to the ocean. On the night of arrival, the T60s were sighted 4 miles offshore from the south end of San Juan Island, but we likely would not be able to see them since it was already getting late and we were losing sunlight.
The following morning, I was awoken around 5am. Half asleep, I heard what sounded like a whale exhale. I listened closely for other exhales, but heard nothing but the sound of a loud vessel motoring off in the distance and occasional bird sounds. About 20 minutes later I heard what was clearly a whale exhale, followed by another, and then another, and another. I instantly shot up out of my sleeping back while fumbling to get out of my tent. It sounded pretty loud, so I speculated that maybe the T60s or another group of transient killer whales, also called Bigg’s, were potentially passing Low Island right off of the park. Thinking it could be transients, I immediately ran down to the shore with the possibility of seeing them in the moonlight. If it was transients, I knew I had to be fast because they travel quickly.
Once I got down to the water, the symphony of exhales continued with accents of percussive behaviors such as tail slaps, pec slaps, and maybe a few breaches that echoed in the night. At one point I counted a total of 10 exhales in tandem, and in the dark could determine there were multiple whales spread out from the south to the north. The number, spacing, and behaviors did not seem like transients, and I was certain these were Residents. I posted on the sightings page, and my speculation was confirmed by people who were listening to the hydrophones and identified the whales as J Pod.
After confirming who the whales were, I ran back up to the site and woke up Kendra. The two of us sat in the dark listening to the whales go by, along with sounds from a great blue heron and a barred owl. As the first light started to break, the whales were now out of earshot, but we continued to sit and watch. After a short while, Kendra spotted some exhales through her binoculars, then we started to hear them once again. The whales had flipped and were traveling back south towards us. As they were approaching we grabbed our equipment, jumped in the car, and made our way down to Lime Kiln State Park, where we set up at the lighthouse.
As we arrived, one group of whales had already passed and was just south of us, but more were coming. The whales were pretty spread out broken up into small groups. I had assumed they would be traveling within their matrilines, but after having gone through the photos and footage they were actually pretty jumbled. With the low lighting, and some whales further offshore, I didn’t see every whale, but I was able to ID the individuals who passed us within close range. The first group that passed was displaying a mix of foraging and play behaviors. Some of the individuals in the group included J35 Tahlequah and her calf J57 Phoenix. They displayed a variety of cuddling behaviors and hunting, and J35 even breached directly in front of us. At one point, J57 rolled on his back doing a series of tail slaps followed by a pec slap.
Following J35 and J57 came a mixed group of the J17s and the J14s which included J44 Moby, J46 Star, J47 Notch, J37 Hy’Shqa, J59 Sxwyeqólh, J45 Se-Yi-Chnn, and J49 T’ilem I’nges. They intermingled and foraged while passing us. Once they were slightly south, we saw a cool prey share behavior amongst another group (possibly the J19s or J14s) where one whale was to the right with its head above the water, while another whale came from the left with its head also elevated out of the water traveling toward the other as if it was carrying or bringing something to the other whale. Upon meeting a group of whales surfaced and displayed some rolling surface behaviors.
After this group had passed, we saw J26 Mike slightly offshore pass by, followed by other members of the J16s including J16 Slick and J36 Alki. The two stalled in front of the lighthouse foraging in a circle in front of us, before making their way south following the rest of the group. Unfortunately, it was during this time that two separate private fishing boats sped through the group of foraging whales. We were able to get photos and videos of the incident and reported it. The incident is currently under investigation.
Several minutes after the J16s passed, one single whale offshore in the distance went by. This was J27 Blackberry who occasionally travels separate from the rest of his family. The whales continued down the island where they remained for most of the day, foraging in areas that were not accessible to the public. In the late afternoon, the whales turned back north, passed County Park continuing northbound, and were eventually seen all the at Campbell River in BC a few days later.
J Pod is one of three pods within the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whale population. J Pod consists of 6 matrilines and 25 individual whales.
Learn more about J Pod and all the 25 members on our Meet the Southern Resident Page.
