Yesterday I went to the west side again just to see what was going on, and arrived just in time to see a huge group of playful whales pass by close to shore at Land Bank's Westside Preserve. This was one of those encounters where photos do so much more than words....
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| Nine of the 30 or so whales on the surface at once, heading towards Land Bank |
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| A young whale breaches alongside five others who have just surfaced |
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| A whale surfaces upside down, pec fins in the air |
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| The same whale does an inverted tailslap |
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| The same whale then rolls over and does a pec slap as J27 Blackberry surfaces behind |
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| J28 Polaris surfaces nose-to-nose with her calf J46 Star |
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| A young whale does an inverted spyhop, surfacing between an adult male and a calf |
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| An orca doing an inverted tailslap sends strands of kelp into the air alongside four other whales |
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| J28 Polaris surfaces with a small strand of kelp across her nose |
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| Having seen only J-Pod whales and the L12 subgroup, I was surprised to see L82 Kasatka and her calf L116 pop up |
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| L22 Spirit |
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| L89 Solstice |
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| L85 Mystery with a strand of kelp across his dorsal fin and saddle patch |
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| L41 Mega |
The whole thing only lasted a few minutes, but boy was it amazing! See larger version of all the photos in this photo gallery, where you can also order prints.
Beautiful...such majestic animals.
ReplyDeleteyour pictures these last few days have been phenomenal, monika! i'm thinking that i will give my self a filing-my-dissertation gift and buy one for myself.... or two... or !
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