Killer whales in Coos Bay? Orcas they were

COOS BAY, Ore. — Five killer whales paid Coos Bay an afternoon visit, perchance to dine, and then turned tail back to the Pacific Ocean.

"They were not lost, by any means," said Jan Hodder, associate professor at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology. "These aren't humpbacks in the Sacramento River. They probably came into the bay following seals."

Still, it was a visit rare enough to draw comment.

The U.S. Coast Guard called Hodder's shop about 1 p.m. Wednesday to report the pod had left the ocean. Two tugs were seen to follow them, and by about 5:30 p.m., onlookers were peering at their white markings from the dock of the Mill Casino-Hotel.

"It was cool," said Christina Husko, a 19-year-old line cook at The Mill. "I haven't seen whales before. My dad was a fisherman, so I've seen pictures, but I've never actually seen a whale."

Fifteen minutes later, they were gone, headed apparently back to the ocean.

Hodder told The World newspaper of Coos Bay she suspects the animals, not true whales but the largest members of the dolphin family, were from the "transient" population, distinct from the "resident" population of orcas, which feed primarily on salmon at this time of year near Puget Sound in Washington and off the British Columbia coast.

The travelers range from Canada to Baja California, eating marine mammals such as sea lions, porpoises, dolphins, gray whales and sperm whales. When they visit Coos Bay, it's in May or June, she said.

Hodder said killer whales can be identified as to sex by their dorsal fins. The males' fins are taller and straighter. Males can weigh up to 12,000 pounds, females 8,400 pounds, she said.

Hodder said killer whales have human-like lifespans, don't travel to distinct places to breed and don't have a migration route. She called them cosmopolitan, with a worldwide distribution, equally at home in the tropics and the Arctic Ocean.