Tag Archives: Jodi Smith

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A week ago Thursday, eagle eyes at the Point Arena Lighthouse spotted a pod of Orcas. Sara Bogard and Scott & Tree Mercer were notified. Luckily they were out on the bluffs already, and Sara had her long lens camera. Sara wrote, “Scott, Tree, and I were blessed with this amazing sighting of eight Orcas a half-mile out on January 23, 2:30 to 4 pm. There were two males, and a mother and calf with the pod. This was the most amazing sighting after finishing up my Harbor Seal survey of 111 total count. Also, a North American River Otter was foraging. I’m so grateful for this sighting.”

The Mercers were excited too. Scott wrote, “The excitement this week arrived on Thursday afternoon with the surprise arrival of eight Killer Whales arriving from the northwest. OrcaNetwork in Washington, Orca experts Alisa Janiger and Nancy Black, and Jodi Smith of Naked Whale Research were notified immediately and were sent photos. Janiger and Black quickly identified the Orcas as meat-eating transient Orcas. We see Orcas on average, once a year, and rarely close, so this relatively close sighting was very exciting. Sara Bogard’s excellent photos made identification possible.”

This second photo is of one of the males. Note the very tall dorsal fin. The Orca experts were able to identify several of the females, CA26 and CA180. Nancy Black wrote, “CA26 is one of our oldest females. She lost her son many years ago so she now often travels with the other older females. [They are called] ‘the golden girls.’”

You can read about these golden girls at this link: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/09/orcas-golden-girls-grab-spotlight-monterey

Thanks to Sara for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

A spring-like day, full of sun and warmth, today.

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Several Coast residents were treated to the sight of two dozen or so Dolphins obviously feeding, as they stayed for over three hours. Ken Bailey took this photo of what I think are Pacific White-sided Dolphins. However, Jodi Smith, of Naked Whale Research, looked at the photos and she says they are Risso's Dolphins. One can be seen breaching.

Pacific White-sided Dolphin breaching by Ken Bailey

Joel Chaban got a photo of their dorsal fins, which you can see slope backward at the top.

Dolphins feeding at Cooks Beach by Joel Chaban

These Dolphins eat mostly squid and some medium-sized fish.  They are not as acrobatic as Pacific White-sided Dolphins but young Risso's Dolphins can be seen breaching, as in Ken's photo.

To learn more about whales, especially Killer Whales, here is the link to Jodi Smith's Naked Whale Research website: http://www.nakedwhaleresearch.org/

Thanks to Ken and Joel for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see more of Ken's nature photography, here is his website: http://www.seadreams.org/