J1
Photo by Mark Malleson

Encounter # 1 • January 1 • J Pod


Observers: Ken Balcomb and Mark Malleson

Ken Balcomb was stuck on shore on New Year's Day, 2010 when J pod came in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and passed by the Victoria waterfront heading east in mid-afternoon. Using "big-eyes" (25x binoculars), he could unequivocally identify several individuals, including J1, but digital photos taken at 3 miles were unconvincing. Fortunately, Mark Malleson was out on the water and in contact by radio, so he took a photograph of J1 to document the observation for us. Our definition of an encounter is when CWR staff are involved in the observation and ID confirming photographs are taken. Other documentations by others are kept as "reports" that can be equally valid, but we do not publish them as "encounters". For a complete listing of sighting reports, see orcanetwork.org. For encounters, usually we are out on the water in a boat to take the photos ourselves under NMFS or DFO permit that allow approaching whales to within 100 yards, but in some cases we may be taking photographs from shore, and in rare cases we may observe others taking photographs that we can use. See News for an exciting report of J pod in Puget Sound on 3 January, 2010.

These photos were taken under MMPA permit #532-1822