Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: RipChord929 on September 07, 2009, 12:37:40 PM
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It always nice when Mother Nature provides the entertainment.. Wife and I went to a BBQ on saturday at some friends house... A pod of Orca came cruzin into the inlet.. Looking for the sealions/seals that are feeding on the salmon... Salmon stack up at creekmouths this time of year, waiting for the water to rise, to spawn upstream. Sealions/Harbor seals, make a great killing in the huge schools of big fish..Orca do the same in turn!!! Ppl don't often get to see Orca making a kill at 30 to 50 yds away, in shallow water... Great way to spend an afternoon, drinking beer, and watching ruthless nature on display... I LOVE the PNW!!!!
Enjoy
:salute RC
Orca cum Cruzin..
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/Cruzin.jpg)
Checkin out the area for free lunch
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/YourNext.jpg)
Searching for a good spot to eat lunch..
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/SweepSearch.jpg)
They cant hide from a sonar directed attack...
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/SonarActive.jpg)
Sealion lunch, all you can eat...
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/TargetFound.jpg)
Pick out a nice fat one..
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/PreySelection.jpg)
The chase begins...
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/TheChase.jpg)
The chase goes on...
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/theChase2.jpg)
Wound it a little, so it can't get away
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/TheWound.jpg)
Another Sealion gone, good riddance!!
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/TheKill.jpg)
Bull is gettin the killshot
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/RippinApiece.jpg)
Family Feast
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/Feeding.jpg)
Yearling
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/Oldersibling.jpg)
Young Calf
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/CalfFrolic.jpg)
Cow
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/Cow.jpg)
Killer Shows Himself
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv226/RipChord929/LeadBull.jpg)
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Amazing pics!
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So...how does Orca taste on the BBQ?
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Hey Rip,
Did you actually see them make a kill on a marine mammal? This is really important if you took photographic evidence of it.
Those look like a "resident" pod, and they are fish eaters only[. They follow the salmon run in. If it was a transient pod, the dorsal fin on the one male would be much more pronounced and the females would have a more triangular side shot to them (would look more sharky). There is a push from many marine mammologists to change the phylogeny on the two, and make them distinct species. They do not interbreed and each has completely differing habitat, diet and dialect of calls.
If they made a kill on another marine mammal it could be indicative of predicted dietary shifts in residents, due to the depleting salmon runs.
Please PM me if you have documentation on a positive kill on a sea lion. Most of the shots I saw looked like "driving" behavior, where they use loud splashes to push fish into corners or ball up for defense. I have at least 3 colleagues that would really be interested in those shots. There would've been an incredible amount of blood had they made a kill there, and they would have played with it for the better part of an hour. You'd definitely know if they made a kill there.
EDIT: Found the last female (sideways breach slap) in the transient Orcinus orca ID book for British Columbia. (You live in Washington State, right?) Pretty sure that's T037A, a female born in 1994. Guidebook is on link.
http://www-sci.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/sa/cetacean/T%20Cat%202008%20Final%20lo_res.pdf (http://www-sci.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/sa/cetacean/T%20Cat%202008%20Final%20lo_res.pdf)
You may want to send your shots to the addy on the face of that ID. You've captured some pretty good behavioral shots. I didn't see any blood or body parts of marine mammals, so most of that was probably social following a kill made elsewhere. If you do have shots on a kill, send em to me.
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Most amazing pics I've seen in some time. Truly awesome. I guess no swimming this Labor Day huh? :D
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So...how does Orca taste on the BBQ?
LOL
That is a awsom sight to see. Lucky you where there watching them in action. Better the slave world (sea world).
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Oh yes, there was plenty of gore in the water.. Birds were feasting as well.. And the sealions that were in the water earlier, weren't there anymore... This event is the talk of the area, nobody has ever seen them that far south, (Olympia area).. There aren't any resident orca's, that anyone can remember.. My friends have been there for 25yrs.. Never seen them in local waters... Up north, San Juans, sure!!! So far south is unusual tho!!!
There were lots of cameras clicking, I'm sure more photos will show up... They've been seen in more places as well.. Cruzin the whole south puget sound....
Swimming out there with them? LOL!!! No Thanks!!! Did ya notice the chubby chick in the kayak on the right?
She was paddlin like hell man, LOL!!!
RC
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I would say that was one heck of a BBQ , great pics and really what if you have the photos that confirm a shift in orca behaviour , it could probably help some of those folks that do these kinds of studys . A weekend you probably won't forget anytime soon .
Nutte :salute
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I saw a couple in the wild off of my ship when I was in the Nav. You would be surprised at how quick and nimble they are.
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you have an extra room for rent? cause i want to live there