Marine mammal enthusiasts were treated to a rare sighting of transient killer whales Friday, Saturday and Sunday in different Southern California regions. The orcas killed a sea lion during two of the sightings, off Rancho Palos Verdes and Newport Beach. During the latter sighting, a baby orca was seen nursing with its mom.
But perhaps the highlight moment was captured Friday off Ventura when Luke Dutton, an employee with Island Packers, videotaped a baby orca vocalizing above the surface next to the boat, its cute high-pitch sounds seemingly directed at the boat's passengers.
The sounds can be heard at 3 seconds, 4 seconds and 7 seconds, but most audibly at 4 seconds.
Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a killer whale researcher who saw the same orcas on Saturday off Rancho Palos Verdes, said transient killer whales are stealthy ambush hunters but will often vocalize after a kill. The vocalizations can be heard beneath the surface, using a hydrophone. To hear them from above the surface is unusual.
Two of 12 orcas that were involved in all three sightings are calves estimated to be 10 and almost 12 months old. Schulman-Janiger has only heard a baby orca sing out above the surface once, off Monterey.
The 12 orcas were from three family groups and included four moms, one of them a grandmother. The cetaceans, which have been cataloged as part of a long-term photo-identification study, are most commonly seen off Monterey.
-- Note: Schulman-Janiger is director of the American Cetacean Society-Los Angeles Chapter's Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project, and the California Killer Whale Project
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