Baby orca makes its debut, but just call it L109 for now

For now, let's keep it formal. Welcome, L109.

The newest member of an orca whale pod, which swims Puget Sound, won't get a cute name until it survives a critical first year.

But the calf, likely just a month or two old, has already made its media debut after being photographed with the L-pod last weekend in Monterey Bay, Calif.

The baby and her pod were playful, breaching and zipping around a whale believed to be her mother, said Nancy Black, a marine biologist who photographed L109.

"They were here all day Saturday feeding on salmon," said Black.

Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, a researcher at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, said L109's mother appears to be either L55 (Nugget) or her daughter, L82 (Kasatka). "Typically, no cute name is given for a year, to allow the baby to survive a year. If it does, we'll go into that," said Balcomb-Bartok.

If L-pod sticks with its historical travel, L109 should be in the Puget Sound in early June.