Foraging Killer Whales today as Queen and her family kept busy as they worked The Patch while Stormy decided to spend the morning playing with Echo and Cooee. The cloud had settled in for the day as we made our way out towards the sighting grounds with a few Common Dolphins enjoying a breakfast of pilchards not far from the coast. The Patch was peaceful but there was energy about as the Shearwaters and Albatross panned carefully before a slinky dorsal fin appeared just ahead. It was closely followed by two others as Stormy, Echo and Cooee were happily travelling together. Cooee came over for her usual morning greetings before rejoining the others and we smiled to see both Echo and Stormy socialising together. A little bit of chase and wrestle was observed as they mingled together and passed the time. It is always fascinating to watch members from two seperate pods socialise together but even more so with young Stormy.
Still very much dependant on mum, Stormy is now starting to spend more and more time venturing out and interacting with others. Echo and Stormy both enjoyed a morning of play before Cooee joined in for a short time before collecting Echo and moving towards the west. Stormy was left with us and it seemed he had made the call out to mum as she came racing over along with Wonks to collect her little one after playtime. Queen arrived on scene and the family continued to settle in for an afternoon of focused foraging as they covered ground efficiently. A large Sunfish surfaced right on our bow and was enjoying a lunch of Blue Bottles but thankfully was not noticed by the nearby Orca who tend to enjoy playing with the Sunfish much to their disdain! It will be a very interesting few years ahead as the younger calves from Queen’s family pod continue to grow and develop to a point where her daughters will have further calves. The family is growing quickly and we cannot wait to watch as Stormy and all of his younger pod members continue to mature into the apex predators they are renowned for, but firstly they have much growing and training to do!
