I love that mountain, Mt. Baker, and I love J Pod! South of Cattle Pass last night aboard the Peregrine. Photo by Capt. James Maya, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching,  June 25, 2015

Being a mom isn't easy, and it must be a little extra tough when you're a first time mom as in the case of J36 "Alki". Her little boy, J52 seems to be quite the curious little guy and lately I've seen him do all sorts of strong willed behaviors and actively watch mom correct or guide him in another way. He also has some rake marks now, not sure when these happened but it's the first I recall seeing them. These are likely marks from play or even mom making a corrective statement to kiddo. There is so much to learn for a new Killer whale calf, and their mothers are essential to that learning process. J52 spyhopped several times to check us out before mom came by and guided him back to where she was fishing. Beautiful encounter with wonderful evening light!
Traci Walter

J52 taking a peek Photo by Traci Walter, June 25, 2015

J50 tail slaps beside her mother, Slick J16. Taken from shore. Photo by Melisa Pinnow, June 25, 2015

12:32 pm - Hi all, Calls and echolocation on OrcaSound right now
Lori Robinson

Echolocation on LK, starting at 11:22...and again at 12:17.
Gayle Swigart

11:15 am - Orcas heading north on SJI west side just past Edwards Point, moving slowly
Mary Ann Rice

We continue to have amazing whale encounters almost every day. Even better, the pod associations are constantly changing so we're getting lots of opportunities to make hydrophone recordings of unique groups of whales. (One thing Michael is hoping to look at for his thesis is how call types change with different social associations.) This morning, however, we had one of more most magical encounters yet. We were off the south end of San Juan Island with members of J and K Pods. We were the only boat with the whales in glassy calm waters when they started breaching - 10 breaches in a row by different whales!  Photo 300mm zoom and about 100-150 yards, decently cropped here. We were shut down making a hydrophone recording when they started going off breaching. Most whales were about 200-250 yards off but K26 Lobo, the whale shown here, came a bit closer.
Monika Wieland

Surface lunge by K26 Lobo in Haro Strait Photo by Monika Wieland, June 25, 2015 (300mm zoom and cropped)

Here's a breach by K14 Lea, Haro Strait Photo by Monika Wieland, June 25, 2015 (300mm zoom and cropped)

Good morning! This is J14 Samish breaching along the shoreline of South Beach on San Juan Island yesterday. It was a truly magical morning with glassy seas and orcas scattered everywhere. Photo by Katie Jones, June 25, 2015

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We were the only two boats with the J14s and J16s through Active Pass yesterday, and as usual, they really ramped up the action in there. It seemed the babies needed some help through some of the currents, but the orcas all went nuts playing around in and surfing the wake of ferries and yachts, rolling, breaching, propoising - just having a great time.
Andy Scheffler

J pod orca breaching in Active Pass. Photo by Andy Scheffler, June 24, 2015

Photo by Andy Scheffler, June 24, 2015

8:00pm - 5 or 6 orca. Spotted the first orca as it breached less than 50 meters away from 10 mile point. Then watched as the remainder of them breached further off shore as the traveled towards Discovery island.
Ryan Key

Open Bay to Kelp Reef. With some Ls... L110 with his old lip injury. His lip folds back and exposes his teeth a little. Photo by Capt. James Maya, June 24, 2015 (ID description by Melisa Pinnow)

I spent the day on San Juan Island and had some fabulous orca sightings. After arriving at Lime Kiln in early afternoon, several Southern Residents traveled by between approximately 2 and 3PM and were spread out. The last group that I saw was the K-7s (K13s)  with the fabulous K-44 Ripple (one of my personal favorites). Many people enjoyed the passing from the rocks and also several kayakers watched from the near shore kelp beds. Later in the day I went out with Maya's Legacy Whale Watching and we encountered the L-4s, L-47s and L-95. They were in a resting line heading north on the west side of SJI. When they got to the north end, one of the lead whales spyhopped at which time all in the group promptly did an about face. They stayed nearly stationary for a very long time doing dozens of spy hops, rolling, tail slapping, and playing in the kelp. The spy hops were a little unusual in that the whales were staying above the water for very long looks. They eventually broke up into two groups moving back south down Haro Strait. One group stayed closer to SJI and the other group west in Canada. Several made their way down to Kelp Reef and did more spy hops and tail slaps. We watched this behavior under beautiful skies and soft light while a great blue heron contemplated his evening meal perched on a kelp bed. The waters were calm and the air was still with backlit blows hanging in the air like a spider web on a dewy morning. Both groups joined back up and gave indications they were possibly headed back out to open sea. It was a magical day.
Debbie Stewart

L110 with his old lip injury. His lip folds back and exposes his teeth a little. Photo by Debbie Stewart, June 24, 2015 (ID description by Melisa Pinnow)

Photo by Debbie Stewart, June 24, 2015

5:06 pm -  Now calls on Lime Kiln. They can even be heard with the passing of a huge freighter.
Kim Merriman

4:20 pm - we began hearing calls on the OrcaSound hydrophone!
Susan Berta, Orca Network

Saturna K43 pokes her head out of the water with her mouth open! She continued to swim around like this for about half a minute. Photo by Melissa Pinnow, June 24, 2015

Sequim K12 lifts a small piece of kelp out of the water with her rostrum. Taken from shore. Photo by Melisa Pinnow, June 24, 2015 Read Melisa's latest blog entry HERE

11:07 am - They all headed north.
10:14 am - Pod on west side, south of Lime Kiln,, we can see boats but they haven't reached us yet, looks like they are milling around in one spot.
Mary Ann Rice

We had a stunning early morning visit with J-Pod Group A, the K14s, and L87 traveling north in Haro Strait today - here's K26 Lobo and K36 Yoda off of Spieden Island Photo by Monika Wieland, June 24, 2015 You can read Monika's latest encounter reports HERE

6:42 am - hearing S4 calls on Lime Kin hydrophone, some near. some distant. Went for about 5 minutes then quiet.
Alisa Lemire Brooks

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Se-Yi-Chn (J45) on Tuesday with the Whidbey AFB in the background. They were doing some serious foraging and salmon chasing when we were on scene. I hope they got a belly full! Photo by Sara Hysong-Shimazu (Taken with a 400mm lens and cropped.)

Miss Suttles (J40) near the Whidbey AFB. Photo by Sara Hysong-Shimazu, June 23, 2015 (Taken with a 400mm lens and cropped.)

Some encounters are so very special, and get ingrained in your memories that even if you pass a certain location over and over again, those memories come back. I think whenever I see the Whidbey island bluffs, I will see this little girl playing and breaching on a sunny calm day. What a treat. This is lovely little girl J50, Mom is Slick J16. I particularly think this female calf holds so much hope. We need more females to continue breeding to help bolster the population. So when I see her, I can't help but he hopeful she will help bring a brighter future for the Southern Resident Killer whales. (See photo of the day)
Traci Walter

We just saw a couple orcas at Cliffside campground on NAS Whidbey. They were quite a ways out so we couldn't get any kind of a decent pic, but that might have been the most exciting thing ever! (turned out to be members of J pod)
Janna Harmon

2:30 pm - From Biz Point (Rosario Strait, Anacortes) Maybe  6-7 orca including 2 large males and a few smaller ones, with one much smaller than the rest. Guess is they were feeding because of lots of fast circling and "darting" while leisurely heading south. Only about 300 yards from shore. No boats around them! Seagulls where gathering on the water where they were.
Cheryl Buchanan

Members of J pod southbound in Rosario Strait Photo by Cheryl Buchanan, June 23, 2015

Nigel (L95) exhaling little diamonds in the air! .He was heading south on the west side of San Juan Island off shore from Nugget (L55) and her crew. Photo by Sara Hysong-Shimazu, June 23, 2015 (Taken with a 400mm lens and cropped.)

12:30pm - 1:45pm We were at the roadside lookout approximately 1km south of Lime Kiln. Approx 15 orcas approached from the south spread out in a long line. Probably 30 minutes from the first to the last orca to pass by our view point. Then they eventually turned around (I think near Lime Kiln) and returned south again. All within a 1 1/2 hour span.
Randall Collins

10:30 am -  6 Orca sighted off my back deck. I just moved to the NE side of Orcas Island and I don't know the name of the two little islands to the NE of us between us and the mainland but they are in between Orcas Island and those 2 islands. (good chance this was J pod who was  in Rosario hours later, see above reports/photos-ALB)
Stephen Hohman

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5:00 pm - We caught up with K's and L's at Limekiln last night at about 5pm as we were sailing northbound is a stiff southerly breeze. The whales were in tight to shore traveling at less than 5 knots before they stopped for a rest and some play south of Henry Island. We left them before 7pm as they took off north around Kellet Bluff and we had a fantastic sail back across the strait and up to the Vancouver Island side in warm breeze. Back in Cadboro Bay before sunset. What a great place to live and play!
Keith Provan

J pod (group A), K pod, L4s and L95: video (below) of the whales passing Lime Kiln on Monday. I set the vidoa camera down for the first part and just let it record, thus the crooked horizon. Jeanne (Hyde) reminded me that it's just another way to show that the whales are going "up island" (Also please excuse the mad dash down the rocks part way through, I just had to get a bit closer!)
Sara Hysong-Shimazu

SRKWs northbound passing Lime Kiln. Video by Sara Hysong-Shimazu June 22, 2015

Granny (J2) and Shachi (J19) passing Lime Kiln Lighthouse on Monday afternoon. Photo by Connie Bickerton, June 22, 2015

Man, I just can't get enough of the J16's -- enjoy the photos of them!
The orcas made a big circle out on the banks then headed straight back for San Juan Island, trending north up the island. And who did we find at the north end of San Juan? None other than the group that headed north last night that had already come back down south. They must have heard each other in the large acoustical corridor and wanted to join up (which I saw on my evening trip)! It was a blustery day out there, but it was nice to see the orcas socializing. Finger's crossed for higher levels of Chinook moving through these waters!
Heather MacIntyre

J36 and J52 Photo by Heather MacIntyre, June 22, 2015