J35 Tahlequah
I shot several pics of J35 Tahlequah with baby girl today. She gave birth to her calf this past Tuesday. The calf died 30 minutes later. Today is day five of her grieving and not wanting to let go. She is pushing her baby girl along on the surface, balanced on her nose and head.
I am not including any of these pics of her calf. This, out of respect for an awesome mama not wanting to let her baby girl go. This morning during my introduction I actually choked up explaining the situation to some of my guests. Not very comforting to have your captain fighting tears and can’t talk. This is ripping all of us apart who love these beautiful creatures. We know them by name and many of their personalities.
J47 Notch
Here are several pics of her 8-year-old son J47 Notch. He breached several times for us. J47 is easy to identify by his dorsal fin. Look at the pics and you will see a rectangular piece of flesh missing, which is how we come to know him as Notch.
There are some of J17 Princess Angelina’s 3-year-old calf J53 Kiki who is Tahlequah’s sister.
Being Respectful
In all of our observations today we were viewing at double the distance we usually do. This to give respect for the grieving pod. Thanks to the long-range zoom lenses for the pictures I can share this evening.
Bird Activity
We saw some interesting bird activity this evening including. We had Black Oyster Catchers, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Bald Eagles. The Eagles were so dirty with blood-soaked heads and tails they looked like juveniles. It is pupping season for our Harbor Seals and the Bald Eagles are taking advantage of the defenseless little critters. I also saw a few Red-Necked Phalarope but didn’t get great pics.
Then we saw some exotic critters on Spieden Island down at the waterline eating seaweed and kelp for nutrients.
I feel bad for J35 Tahlequah with baby girl, and the grief she is feeling.
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