Video


2
Oct 09

Northern Residents

As things in the south become more tense and condensed with people and politics, I have been more and more inclined to escape to the north where the vibe is so completely different. I do love the south very much however I do end up needing breaks from it. Up here, it’s possible to watch whales without being around people and that is a nice bonus. To be situated on the shoreline in the wilderness… It’s a different experience and it’s very sacred to me. I have been going up north since 2003 (since Luna – he is the one who got me into all this) and have been returning every year. This year I managed to get up there 3 times to my secret spot that I love so much. Above you can see some of the media from those trips.

On the last trip I managed to witness something really incredible. Firstly, I heard the A36 brothers call all alone in the Queen Charlotte Strait. There was not a boat that day in the strait and the calls echoed incredibly. They were calling out, as if to be responded to, I am assuming they were looking for A12. A12 (an elder) lost her son this past year (A33 Nimpkish) and has been traveling solo sometimes when she is not with the 3 big boys who have seemed to adopted her as their step mom. The day after the calls, we saw the A36’s traveling in the strait with A12. They were not calling at that point. It’s an amazing observation to have, to share this understanding that orcas are like people, need friends and family and ultimately love and companionship in their lives… It is my dream to move up there in the future. Where I can access those days, standing alone on the shoreline, just me and an orca… Yes it is possible.


12
Sep 09

Luna & Dog on Animal Planet

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/untamed-uncut/

The show will do a small 1-2 min segment on this clip. Sunday Sept 13 at 9 pm

Luna & Dog was also sighted on the Ellen DeGeneres show, the award winning feature film Saving Luna, and will appear in the feature film Unity – the sequal to the award winning feature film Earthlings. I never would have thought when capturing this, what impact this would make. I’ll keep you posted as stuff comes up.


1
Sep 09

Brothers J39 & J27

_MG_9452

A complete surprise while on our way into Vancouver via Prince of Whales Butchart Gardens, Adventure crossing combo (not designed to be a whale watching tour) ; Jpod was fishing near the north arm of the Fraser River around 7:30pm. Here, J27 and younger sibling J39 are showing communication and/or foraging behavior; tail slaps, pec slaps, even a breach!. You can see that Mako J39 copies what his big brother Blackberry J27 is doing and that they are a team!. It’s a heart warming observation to see the two together in this way. I was thinking about them all night! A side note; I observed and documented (images and video) animals spread far far apart, partaking in similar behavior. The animals were mainly solo, and far off into the distance, there were no boats around them. I am assuming the animals were participating in foraging behavior of some kind or some kind of long distance communication?.

You can see the blog post of the entire journey at Prince of Whales Blog

Some notes on these two co/ the Center for Whale Research;

J27 • Male • Born 1991
Mother is J11 (deceased), siblings are J25 (deceased), J31 & J39.

J39 • Male • Born 2003
Mother is J11 (deceased), siblings are J25 (deceased), J27 & J31.