Today we have spent the day with orcas.
The weather was a bit choppy. We had big waves.
Early on, we found a group of orcas who seemed to be in foraging mode.
Almost all day, they were spread out, scanning the area.
Sometimes, when they heard something interesting, they surged to the scene, but something had yet to unfold during the day.
However, the orcas successfully killed a beaked whale towards the end of the day. Once again, we have not seen the actual kill, only the giant oil slick on the surface and the remains of the animal.
Today, I learned something exciting.
It is known that marine mammal eating orcas celebrate their kills one way or another. So this group of orcas was celebrating too. You can see some animals were breaching.
But the exciting part was to see the matriarch (eldest female orca in the group) carrying around the skull of the beaked whale.
The guide told us that this behavior had been observed multiple times before. The female carried around the skull for a while, like a trophy after the kill.
You can see the remains of the skull in her mouth, sharing with and showing it to her calf.
Today was a very interesting and lucky day!
I am so happy to be able to witness these events and widen our knowledge about orcas.
Enjoy!
-Krisztina/Orca Channel
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