J Pod Welcomes Third Calf
Photo by Capt. Jim Maya of Maya's Legacy Whale Watching
Crews of the Pacific Whale Watching Association reported the sighting of a new baby in J pod on Monday afternoon. The birth was confirmed by Center for Whale Research on Monday night.
Naturalist/researcher Jeanne Hyde was onboard with Capt. Spencer Domico of Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching shortly after noon yesterday watching the subgroup J16s with their three-month-old calf J50 off Galiano Island, BC.
Hyde said in a news release that she noticed the sub-group J16s pass by Monday afternoon when she spotted the calf. Initially she thought the calf was J50, the offspring of J16 born late December, until she saw J50 surface behind the newborn.
Also out yesterday with the newest addition to the Southern Resident Community were Capt. Jim Maya of Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching on San Juan Island, and Capt. Mark Malleson of Prince of Whales of Whales Whale Watching in Victoria.
The mother of this latest calf is thought to possibly be J40, Suttles.
This latest edition brings the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population up to 81 living in the Salish Sea.
Lolita, the 82nd member of the SRKWs, still resides at Miami Seaquarium.
