November 9: Our most productive day of data collection yet

After heavy wind and rain overnight, we knew we would be off the water on November 8th, but with J-Pod in Possession Sound, we were surprised by a morning report of orcas northbound off Vashon Island. Even more amazing was when it turned out to be K-Pod! With so many eyes and ears looking and listening for them in this region, it's always impressive that so many whales can appear somewhere unexpected. They must have come in quickly and quietly the night before!

With Js and Ks having met up, we were extra keen to get on the water with our partners from the Center for Whale Research on the morning of the 9th. Thankfully the day dawned clear and calm. We found the 40+ Southern Residents not far from the marina and were able to have some extended time with them, resulting in our most productive day of data collection yet.

The most remarkable part of the day was seeing how many chum salmon the whales were catching. From a standard perspective, we can detect behavior that looks like foraging, but with the assistance of the drone, we can actually observe when prey pursuits near the surface are successful. And there were a lot of them! Chinook salmon make up the majority of the Southern Residents' year-round diet, but they are known to seasonally shift their diet to include other salmonid species. It's the fall chum runs that primarily draw them into Puget Sound this time of year.

The active foraging we observed was broken up with some moments of socializing, including this breach from J51 Nova. At 11 years old, it's very noticeable how much he's grown. It looks like his dorsal fin is already "sprouting", or growing from the ~2.5' fin of females and juveniles to the ~4-5' fin of an adult male.