Last month a pod of orcas was found off of Palos Verdes, near Los Angeles.
Well, they're back. Actually, it isn't clear if this is the same pod or not, but here's some more awesome footage of orcas found in the waters off of Dana Point, earlier this week.
Killer whales are not seen often in these waters, so this is particularly exciting for those who got to see them...though it makes me wonder if they're not trying to find new hunting grounds. Is there a shortage of orca food in their normal hang-outs?
(click through to see the videos, behind the cut)
And some more footage of the whales near Channel Islands National Park
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What does this mean? Is the water colder than normal then?
Heh, I don't know. I was just speculating off the cuff. The water out here is ALWAYS freezing, though, even on the hottest day. At least to me.
Interested parties could probably check with the locals about whether this is the same pod. When we hang out at St. Helena Sound (on the east coast), we see the same families of dolphins hanging around repeatedly, and get to know them by little things like battle wounds, double dorsal fins, coloration, quirky behavior. I bet the old salts who are fishing the same waters can recognize them if they're the same family. I'm gonna go check the local paper & see if they say anything.
No confirmation as to whether it's the same family that is seen off the coast, from what I could find. A blog about previous sightings and a blurb in the local paper.
www.pvnews.com/articles/2010/06/03/local_news/news5.txt
http://great-white-shark.blogspot.com/2007/01/gang-of-killer-whales-kil…
I think that their presence indicates there's food to be had. Might be interesting to determine if these are the kinds of Orca that prefer salmon or the open ocean sea mammal hunting kinds, then one could correlate their movement with local fish populations or sea-lions/gray whales. I'd love to think that after years of overfishing the coastal california fishery is recovering at long maybe as a result of the recent marine sanctuary designations that came into affect over the last few years, and so supporting populations of orca once again just as it used to.