Alki’s family pod welcomes new calf Helen as today we could confirm that the newest member observed this season belongs to Alki and her family pod! The little one was first observed back on the 4th of January and as the family pod was socialising with others on that day it was difficult to narrow down which family this little one belonged to with only a brief interaction. Today was exciting as we were able to spend some time with just Alki and her family as they were successful with a good hunt today after a morning of foraging. It was in the early afternoon that the tiny calf surfaced amongst the family pod and how wonderful it was to see here racing along with pod members Grace and Maddison. The family pod now numbers 9 individuals with the newest member named Helen after one of our beloved locals of Bremer Bay and recoded as Orca WWWA06 in the catalogue.
Queen and her family were also successful today with a squid kill as the family feasted throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. Full bellies were greatly needed after a few days of long searches without much reward for the Orca pods. After a good feed often playtime follows and all of the calves decided it was time to rumble as they surfed their way towards the Steep Point, belly up and loving life. The youngsters were very cheeky as they showed off to the GoPro and displayed just how agile and nimble they can be as apex predators. It was also wonderful to see little Grace carrying her meal today as she begins to show signs of maturing from dependent calf to outgoing youngster. Now that she is no longer the youngest member of her family pod we will see her showing little Helen the ways of the Orca and how to handle and prepare the daily meal.
