For the past 10 days, L-87, and presumably J pod, seemed happy to just hang out around Texada Island in Canada’s Strait of Georgia. Then they headed south around the southern end of Vancouver Island and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, according to researchers with the NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
As of this morning, the killer whales had just entered the open ocean, as shown in the map on this page.
L-87, a 22-year-old male orca who travels with J pod, has been tracked by satellite since Dec. 26, when researchers attached a transmitter to his dorsal fin in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. See Water Ways, Jan. 3, 2014.
The pod’s movements around Texada Island can be seen on the series of maps updated every few days by the researchers, led by Brad Hanson. Check out 2014 Southern Resident Killer Whale Satellite Tagging.
