K Pod mother, calf spotted near San Francisco

A mother orca and her calf from one of Puget Sound's endangered resident killer-whale pods were spotted last week as they made a swing past the California coast — cruising just west of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

Orca experts say the pair have been identified as members of K Pod, one of three matriarchal clans of orcas that call Puget Sound home — J, K, and L pods.

It's no secret the whales range away from Puget Sound in the wintertime, but just where they go is not well understood. They have been documented off the California coast in five of the past six years, as far south as Monterey Bay.

But the significance of the sightings is not clear.

"We don't know if this something they did before and we just didn't know, because we weren't looking," said Brad Hanson, wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service Science Center in Seattle. "Prior to 2000, we didn't realize they went that far south. It's possible they go even further. They probably are foraging on salmon is our best guess."

However, some scientists are concerned by the sighting, because they see it as a sign the animals are having to range farther from home to get enough to eat. The orcas eat primarily salmon, and especially chinook — itself a threatened species in Puget Sound.

"They are extending that far to try to keep everybody fed," said David Bain, research director for Global Research and Rescue in Seattle. "It's a bad thing, in that whales ought to be able to make a living locally."

Scientists are still figuring out just where the whales go when they leave Puget Sound, Hanson said. The orcas can travel about 3 miles an hour, and cover 75 miles a day. "With gaps of weeks and months between sightings, the ranging can be fairly significant," Hanson said.

The orcas generally hang around the San Juan Islands in the summer, though they sometimes hit the outer coast. In the fall, they typically cruise into the southern parts of Puget Sound, as far south as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The southern-resident orcas can usually be seen in Puget Sound even into January. It's not unusual for observers to lose sight of them for months at a time until they head back to Puget Sound around May.

The mother and calf were photographed in a chance encounter by a photographer in California. Researchers sent the photos to Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, who was able to identify the K pod pair by their distinctive markings that Balcomb has catalogued.

There may have been more Puget Sound whales in on the trip. But only the mom-and-calf pair could be confirmed in the photo.

Still, even seeing the 3-year-old calf at all was good news. Last summer, a total of five other members of the three southern-resident pods — including both newborn babies — went missing, and none has reappeared. Balcomb is waiting until the animals are due home this summer before presuming they are dead.

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com