[CINC] Orca Info...

[Joel E. Justin]

Hi Everyone,
 
You may recall from past trip reports that we had an Orca sighting on 1/11 and a group of Orcas on 2/25. I just got the photos downloaded from the CX and provided them to Alisa Schulman-Janiger to see if she could ID any of them. Her response is below, and it's pretty interesting. If you want to see the photos, you can click on the links at the bottom to view or download. I will leave them there for about a month before I delete them.
 
Enjoy, Joel...

 


> Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:58:29 -0800
> To: j_bar_j at hotmail.com
> From: janiger at cox.net
> Subject: Re: Male Orca on 1/11: ID pics? (CA171B); 12/25: very rare transients!!!
> CC: shauna.bingham at noaa.gov
> 
> Hi, Joel-
> 
> THANKS SO VERY MUCH!! I just downloaded them.
> 
> Whoo-hoo! The male on 1/11/2012 IS our little orphan male - CA171B! He has a 
> VERY distinctive, unique left eyepatch...it looks like a pair of lips! 
> This is DEFINITELY him! He lost his mom when only a few years old. The Condor 
> Express has documented him several times, usually with other whales -
> sometimes 
> by himself. 
> 
> The January 25 encounter: 
> 
> It looks like this is the first time that these whales have been photographed 
> south of Monterey Bay! 
> 
> So far I have IDs for five of these orcas. One of these is CA155; she is 
> seldom-seen transient, first photographed in 1983 in Monterey, CA. CA126 
> was also there, and is likely the new mom - maybe for the first time! 
> She is also seldom-seen, first sighted in Monterey in 1994 (with CA155). 
> I don't have any confirmed sightings of these whales between 1997 and 
> 2007. These have been photographed together several times in 2010. Since 
> we have no photos of her with previous offspring (that I know of), her 
> calf is likely CA126A. 
> 
> Two of the other whales were previously sighted only that I know of (2007) 
> off of Monterey, CA; they have the temporary designations of N170 and N170A. 
> 
> I'll work through your images carefully tonight, looking for the 6th whale. 
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> Alisa
> -----Original Message------------------------------
> At 08:27 PM 2/28/2012 -0800, you wrote:
> Alisa,
> 
> I finally got the SD cards from the Condor Express. Sorry it took so long.
> I uploaded the Orca photos from 1/11 to:
> 
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=b7f1ea3e50eba624#cid=B7F1EA3E50EBA624&id=B7F1EA3E50EBA624%214090
> 
> Unfortunately, there were only 3 and I don’t think any of them will do
> you much good. But, there was another Orca sighting on 2/25. I uploaded
> them to:
> 
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=b7f1ea3e50eba624#cid=B7F1EA3E50EBA624&id=B7F1EA3E50EBA624%214075
> 
> There are 46 photos and some of them are quite good. Let me know when you
> have downloaded those you want and I’ll delete them from my SkyDrive.
> 
> Joel...
> 
> 
 		 	   		  
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