At least a dozen killer whales were spotted Monday afternoon off Point Vicente on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who runs the ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project at Point Vicente, telephoned me at 4 p.m. to say at least 12 and as many as 20 killer whales were spotted by volunteers. The orcas were traveling to the east.
The researcher was was venturing out aboard the Christopher with a news crew from NBC. ABC has already aired a blurb on the sighting of what might be a group of transient orcas, which prey largely on other marine mammals.
Schulman-Janiger is asking boaters who encounter the orcas to send images to her at janiger@cox.net. She's involved in a long-term photo-identification project. If I get fresh photos later I'll sub out the accompanying photo showing "Chopfin" and fellow transient orcas photographed off Monterey by Cody Martin of El Segundo in 2007.
Cody's father Eric saw the ABC report and said this group might actually include Chopfin.
-- Pete Thomas
I saw them on Tuesday morning at about 7:20 am. I was up on the bluff above Terrenea Resort. They were close to shore and there were about 12-15 of them. I grabbed the binoculars because I knew from their swimming patterns, they weren't dolphins. They were also headed east.
Posted by: Kathleen Griffiths | Jan 18, 2011 at 03:06 PM
How exciting! I think I'll go out and look:)
Posted by: Robin Kanouse | May 11, 2010 at 12:56 PM