It’s a Boy! Newborn Calf joins K pod Whales

Baby whale K-44 with mother K-27 spotted in Puget Sound waters this week. Photo courtesy of the Center for Whale Research

From the Kitsap Sun

A newborn calf was spotted Wednesday in K pod, one of the three groups of killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea and Puget Sound, experts say.

The new calf was observed on a day when a majority of the three pods, known as Southern Residents, returned to the San Juans, as they do each year. This year’s arrival is one of the latest returns on record for the orcas, which often come back to inland waters in June, experts say.

Arriving Wednesday were most of K and L pods, though J pod and small groups in K and L pods had been around. Another small group in L pod still has not been seen.

Of the groups spotted Wednesday, it appears that all the orcas are accounted for, said Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research. That means that none died over the winter. One of the whales that had not been seen anywhere since February was seen on Wednesday, he noted.

“Everybody was looking healthy,” Balcomb said. “The big news yesterday was the new baby.”

The newborn showed an orange hue, as most newborn orcas do, and it still had its umbilical cord attached, which means it was only days old. At one point the 17-year-old mother, K-27 (known as “Deadhead”) rolled her calf over, revealing that he was a male. Frequently, the sex of young calves is not known for months or even years.