Photo: Mark Malleson, CWR
I am pleased to repeat the message we’ve heard again and again over the past year: The baby boom continues for the orcas that frequent Puget Sound.
The Center for Whale Research has confirmed the birth of a new calf in L pod — the seventh to be born to the three Southern Resident pods since December of last year.
The new baby, designated L-123, is the first documented calf for L-103, a 12-year-old female named Lapis. I have a special fondness for Lapis and her family, because her mother, L-55 or Nugget, was one of the 19 orcas that stayed in Dyes Inlet for a month during 1997. Nugget was 20 years old at the time, and her first born, L-82 or Kasatka, was 7. Kasatka had a calf of her own in 2010. Now, with the birth of this new calf, our old friend Nugget is the grandmother of two.
The new calf was first photographed Nov. 10 by Alisa Lemire Brooks and Sara Hysong-Shimazu from Alki Point in West Seattle, according to a news release from the Center for Whale Research. See entry on Orca Network’s Facebook page. Because of poor visibility and sea conditions, those photos and others taken later by Melisa Pinnow and Jane Cogan were not clear enough to confirm the birth of a new orca. High-resolution photos taken yesterday by Mark Malleson, a research associate with the Center for Whale Research, were used for the final confirmation.
Having seven orca calves born in a 12-month period is almost unheard of. In the 40 years that the Center for Whale Research has been keeping tabs on the orca population, the greatest number of calves born in a single year was nine in 1977.
Researchers will be watching all the new calves as they grow. Getting through the first year is often the toughest, as the young whales learn to survive while their immune systems develop.
The population of the Southern Residents now stands at 83 — or 84 if you count Lolita who remains in captivity in Miami Seaquarium. That total consists of 28 whales in J pod, 19 in K pod and 36 in L pod, according to statistics reported by Orca Network from census data collected by the Center for Whale Research.
The news release announcing the new baby adds this note of caution:
“While a new calf born to this struggling population is certainly cause to celebrate, it is important to remember that another SRKW also means another mouth to feed. With each new calf that is born, we continue to emphasize the need to focus on wild chinook salmon restoration efforts — especially the removal of obsolete dams that block wild salmon from their natal spawning habitat, such as those on the lower Snake River. We will continue to monitor the new calf in the next several weeks and provide updates whenever possible.”
