Monterey Bay – Syndication Server

Orca bats seal 70 feet skyward in what remains a ‘punt’ for the ages

The astonishing scene is brought to mind by recent footage showing an orca “punting” a common murre 20 feet into the air.

Earlier this week we shared footage showing an orca “punting” a seabird nearly 20 feet into the air in California’s Monterey Bay.

While impressive, the scene was reminiscent of a more astonishing event documented nine years ago, involving an orca that used its flukes to fling a harbor seal at least 70 feet skyward.

The accompanying images were captured off Port Angeles, Wash., by Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a California-based killer whale researcher.

https://www.facebook.com/alisa.schulmanjaniger/posts/6547668058675012?ref=embed_post

“It’s still the most astounding thing I’ve seen,” Schulman-Janiger, co-founder of the California Killer Whale Project, told FTW Outdoors in 2023. “A momentous moment in my life.”

The event was also captured on video and the footage is posted below. The video description places the height of the seal at 80 feet.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=478672815636888

The male orca belongs to a family scientifically cataloged as the TO69s. The standout punter is TO69C, who was about 20 years old at the time.

The orca shown “punting” the common murre last Saturday is part of a family unit cataloged by the California Killer Whale Project as the CA51As, led by the matriarch, nicknamed Aurora.

Schulman-Janiger said those orcas were honing their skills for when it’s time to hunt seals or sea lions.

“They’re practicing for the pinnipeds when they do this,” she said. “They might smack them with their heads or flukes, but the big thing is to use their flukes to throw them into the air so they’ll be stunned when they come down.”

Orca ‘punts’ seabird 20 feet high in wild scene caught on video

Footage captured in California’s Monterey Bay shows one orca using its flukes to fling a common murre nearly 20 feet skyward.

Orcas that prey on marine mammals sometimes “punt” seals or sea lions high into the air to stun the pinnipeds before meal time.

On Saturday in California’s Monterey Bay, one young orca was caught on video practicing its skills on a large seabird.

The accompanying footage, captured by Evan Brodsky of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, shows the orca using its flukes to launch a common murre nearly 20 feet skyward.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_pMYU6xOcy/

“Killer Whales vs. Common Murres,” Brodsky described via Instagram. “Safe to say the Orca won. Bad Day to be a Murre.”

The killer whales, or orcas, were observed breaching and spyhopping near whale-watching vessels, while some were busy tormenting murres.

“They don’t call them demons from hell for nothing,” Brodsky joked in reference to the orcas, which did not eat any of the murres they harassed.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, co-founder of the California Killer Whale Project, said Brodsky’s footage revealed “a perfect example of the punting behavior.”

The researcher added, “They’re practicing for the pinnipeds when they do this. They might smack them with their heads or flukes, but the big thing is to use their flukes to throw them into the air so they’ll be stunned when they come down.”

The California Killer Whale Project identified the six-member family unit as the CA51As, led by the matriarch, nicknamed Aurora.

Brodsky captured his footage from aboard the Point Sur Clipper. The image atop this post, captured by Capt. Warren Asher of the Sea Wolf II, shows one of the killer whales breaching next to the Point Sur Clipper.

This luxury seaside resort is reimagining the eco-lodge experience

Unwind on the coast.

This summer, big changes are coming to one of Marina, California’s top seaside destinations. The Sanctuary Beach Resort enjoys an enviable location on Monterey Bay between Carmel Valley and the Marina Dunes Preserve. Surrounded by stunning scenery, this hotel takes pride in its connection to the California coast. In June 2024, The Sanctuary Beach Resort will take its love for local landscapes to the next level by launching 60 thoughtfully reimagined rooms and suites. Here are a few of the Earth-friendly features you can look forward to at this luxurious eco-lodge.

“The Sanctuary Beach Resort provides more than just an uninterrupted seaside escape. It’s an invitation to reconnect with yourself, others and nature,” the resort explains on its website.

Aerial view of an eco-lodge hotel on the coast at sunset. — *Photo courtesy of The Sanctuary Beach Resort*

The Sanctuary Beach Resort’s eco-lodge offerings

The resort enlisted interior design and architecture firm FAROUKI FAROUKI to incorporate locally-made artwork and wellness-focused elements into the soon-to-be-unveiled rooms and suites. But these changes represent just one part of The Sanctuary Beach Resort’s connection to nature, sustainability, and wellness.

The interior of an eco-lodge lobby with white walls and wood features. — *Photo courtesy of The Sanctuary Beach Resort*

Earth-conscious efforts throughout the resort (and its restaurant Salt Wood Kitchen & Oysterette) are what make this destination so appealing to adventurers seeking an eco-lodge experience. Protected areas across the property help preserve local flora. Gardens incorporate native and drought-resistant plants. The beachfront cottages even provide visitors with organic, vegan-friendly bath products from Grown Alchemist.

A beach cottage patio overlooking a sandy coast. — *Photo courtesy of The Sanctuary Beach Resort*

According to a recent press release, “With close proximity to such ecological wealth, The Sanctuary is committed to prioritizing eco-conscious practices and urging guests to appreciate the dunes through guided walking explorations and protective areas with educational signage to deepen visitors’ understanding and appreciation for this unique ecosystem.”

A sandy path by beach cottages at The Sanctuary Beach Resort on Monterey Bay. — *Photo courtesy of The Sanctuary Beach Resort*

Travelers curious to explore The Sanctuary’s nature-focused programs can enjoy everything from beach yoga and guided nature walks to Coastal Jazz Nights. Guests who want to upgrade their seaside relaxation can also check out the resort’s spa for holistic wellness treatments. Discover more about the hotel, its programs, and its green initiatives here.

A massage table in a spa at The Sanctuary Beach Resort on Monterey Bay. — *Photo courtesy of The Sanctuary Beach Resort*

Watch: ‘Super rare’ white orca hunts with pod off Monterey

A white orca nicknamed Frosty was spotted Sunday in California’s Monterey Bay and images and video footage appear to show a healthy young killer whale.

Frosty is the only known leucistic, or partially white orca off California. Some white orcas develop health issues that significantly shorten their life spans.

But Frosty, who was first documented off Monterey as a newborn in August 2019, appeared to be in good shape while hunting with its mother and orcas from another family group.

“We had Frosty the super rare white Killer Whale!” Monterey Bay Whale Watch, which captured drone footage of the orcas during an hours-long encounter, boasted via Facebook.

The California Killer Whale Project, founded by the company’s Nancy Black and fellow researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger, stated in another post: “The whales hunted an elephant seal and at least one California sea lion, breaching and prey sharing with the carcass!”

Frosty, whose sex is unknown, belongs to a family unit cataloged as the CA216s. Frosty is documented as CA216C1.

Prior to Sunday, the last known Frosty sighting occurred in April off Palos Verdes in Southern California.

In August 2022, a thin-looking Frosty was photographed via drone in Alert Bay, British Columbia.

At the time, Oceanwise Research stated via Instagram: “The measurements of ‘Frosty’ indicate that this animal is quite thin. Having said that, killer whales around this age will often go through a thin period as they are weaned off their mothers milk and then start to fill out in subsequent years.”

Frosty sightings have been sporadic but wide ranging, having occurred from Mexican waters below San Diego to British Columbia.

Frosty is a Bigg’s transient killer whale. These orcas prey almost exclusively on other marine mammals, including gray whale calves. Younger orcas learn from older pod mates and ultimately pass their skills down to new orcas.

On Sunday, Frosty and her mom were with a group known as the CA140Bs, as passengers from several whale-watching companies watched in awe.

Stated Monterey Bay Whale Watch: “The orcas were displaying remarkably social and interactive behavior, with countless breaches and spy hops.”

Watch: Red-footed booby grabs spotlight on whale-watching trip

Whale watchers in California’s Monterey Bay on Tuesday happily made way for a red-footed booby as the seabird landed on the rail as if to become just another passenger.

**UPDATE: The red-footed booby was on the same vessel, High Spirits, again Wednesday. Click here to view some wonderful images and learn the booby’s nickname.

Whale watchers in California’s Monterey Bay on Tuesday happily made way for a red-footed booby as the rare seabird landed on the rail as if to become just another passenger.

“A juvenile red-footed booby landed on the boat today. So we took it whale watching,” Katlyn Taylor, a naturalist for Blue Ocean Whale Watch, wrote in her Facebook video description.

In Taylor’s video, posted below, and in Capt. Kate Cummings’ Instagram video, the seabird casually preens as if not bothered by the presence of people, as humpback whales lunge-feed beyond the bow.

The passengers, giving the booby space, are perhaps more in awe of the exotic visitor than they are of the whales, which are common in Monterey Bay.

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Red-footed boobies nest on tropical islands and atolls, so Monterey is far beyond their typical range.

Cummings told FTW Outdoors that she had encountered only one other red-footed booby in Monterey Bay, in 2018, before Tuesday’s encounter.

“It hitched a ride into Moss Landing Harbor on a fishing boat and died a few days later,” Cummings recalled. “But the booby we had [Tuesday] seemed healthy and active, as it was seen plunge-diving for anchovies, successfully, and was preening on our boat.”

Red-footed boobies, named because of the striking coloration of their feet, prey on fish and squid and hunt by flying slowly above the surface.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the seabirds are known to rest on ships as they hunt in open water.

The Lab’s website states: “Individuals may ride on a ship, or fly alongside it, and when flying fish take to the air in front of the vessel, the booby flies swiftly toward it, catching it in the bill. Red-footed boobies also congregate around actively feeding fish such as tuna, which drive small fish toward the surface.”

On Tuesday, the booby appeared to have benefited from whales dispersing massive schools of anchovies.

Orcas line up perfectly for family portrait in ‘awesome moment’

A photographer has captured what might be considered the perfect orca family portrait in foggy weather in California’s Monterey Bay.

A photographer on Tuesday captured an extraordinary orca family portrait in foggy weather in California’s Monterey Bay.

“The awesome moment when all the orcas you encounter line up for a shot,” Eric Austin Yee wrote on Facebook.

The black-and-white image, captured during a Discovery Whale Watch expedition, shows the closely aligned dorsal fins of five transient orcas – a mom, her three kids, and another orca that travels with the family.

Yee, also a naturalist, said visibility was poor when he received a tip from colleagues about an orca sighting in the middle of the bay.

Yee told FTW Outdoors: “As we approached the area the pod of five orcas popped up near us. We were worried they would have been lost in the fog but they resurfaced near us multiple times and got active.”

Behaviors included breaching and spy-hopping, which is when a whale in a vertical position pokes its head out of the water for a look around.

“Even though visibility was poor, the water was glassy,” Yee continued. “I got a lucky moment when all five animals lined up and I snapped the shot.

Yee added: “I had a weird moment when going through my photos: ‘How would black-and-white animals look in black and white?’ Pretty good, I guess.”

Monterey Bay is a frequent hunting area for transient orcas, which prey on marine mammals. The family unit photographed by Yee is well known to scientists.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, co-founder of the California Killer Whale Project, said the orcas, from nearest to farthest, are cataloged and nicknamed as follows: CA51A3 (Dipper), CA51A2 (Andi), CA51A4 (Eclipse), CA51A (the matriarch, Aurora), and CA50B (Jimmy).

Synchronized feeding? Whales wow tourists with stunning display

Passengers aboard a California whale-watching vessel on Tuesday watched in wonder as four humpback whales breached in unison while feeding on small fish.

The accompanying footage, captured by Johanna Domise of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, shows the whales engaging in vertical lunge-feeding behavior.

The vessel was in neutral when the dramatic close encounter occurred, according to the company, which exclaimed on Facebook:

“Humpback whales can eat up to 2 million calories per day! In this video, you can see the whale’s throat pleats expanding, taking in up to 5,000 gallons of water while feeding!”

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Humpback whales, which can weigh more than 50 tons, are commonly encountered in Monterey Bay. They’re known for their spectacular breaches, close approaches, and the voracious manner by which they feed.

It’s not rare to capture vertical lunge feeding on video, but it’s not common to capture footage showing four whales exhibiting this behavior at almost precisely the same moment.

Orcas slurp sea jellies in rare behavior caught on video

For the second time this year an orca family group has been documented playing with sea jellies in California’s Monterey Bay.

This rarely observed behavior – transient orcas, or killer whales, prey almost exclusively on marine mammals – involved the same four orcas.

On Tuesday, on a trip run by Capt. Slater Moore, the orcas were encountered outside of Moss Landing.

“We watched them eat a couple of sea lions. Then as they traveled out of the bay one of the younger ones [tossed] a jellyfish in her mouth,” Moore wrote on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Slater Moore (@slatermoorephotography)

Moore also joked: “I guess sea nettles taste like Jolly Ranchers?!?!”

Kate Cummings, owner of Blue Ocean Whale Watch, was aboard Moore’s boat and described the family group as “grabbing sea nettle jellies as they went,” after the sea lion predation.

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Sea nettles are jellies (jellyfish) whose tentacles can span 10-plus feet. Stinging cells paralyze small prey items, which are carried by “mouthy-arms” to the jellies’ mouths, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Orca slurps sea nettle. Photo: ©Kate Cummings

Moore and Cummings told FTW Outdoors that the orcas seemed to be playing with and not preying upon the sea nettles.

“I don’t think they swallowed any of the jellies,” Moore said.

The four orcas are cataloged as the CA202s by the California Killer Whale Project. They include a mom and her three offspring.

The same rarely encountered group – the mother is nicknamed Smiley because of a distinct marking in her saddle – was documented playing with sea nettles on Feb. 6.

Orca carries sea nettle. Photo: ©Tory Kallman

Passengers and crew aboard a Monterey Bay Whale Watch vessel watched as two of the orca siblings carried what might have been the same sea nettle at different times in the bay.

Tory Kallman captured footage of the oldest sibling (a male) swimming behind a GoPro camera with the sea nettle dangling from his chin.

Capt. Nancy Black, owner of Monterey Bay Whale Watch and co-founder of the California Killer Whale Project, told FTW Outdoors that the orcas seemed to be playing with the jelly “like a dog plays with a ball.”

Black also said that these particular orcas might simply enjoy the stinging sensation generated by tentacles touching their tongues.

Amid an eerie haze of smoke, whales emerge to feed

A surreal orange haze that has prevailed across portions of California this week also has spread across coastal waters, casting marine critters in an unearthly light.

A surreal haze that has prevailed across portions of California this week also has spread across coastal waters, casting marine critters in an unearthly light.

The accompanying images, captured Wednesday by Blue Ocean Whale Watch in Monterey Bay, show humpback whales and a Risso’s dolphin in what Capt. Kate Cummings described as “a natural sepia filter” created by wildfires.

“Yes, it was apocalyptic on the ocean too; and no, it didn’t stop the humpbacks from being humpbacks,” Cummings wrote in a video post on Facebook.

Cummings’ charter encountered humpback whales and Risso’s dolphins as a patchy orange sky darkened considerably in late afternoon.

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“My instrument panel lights were visible the entire day, when typically you can only see the lights before or after sunset,” Cummings told For The Win Outdoors. “It was surreal to say the least.”

The mammals weren’t always easy to spot in such conditions.

“The photographers on board had to be watching their ISO settings constantly, at one point up to ISO 4,000 to adjust to the low light,” Cummings said. “It was eerie, creepy, and sometimes beautiful.”

The entire Bay Area – and many other areas in California – have been affected by smoke from wildfires for the past several days.

Cummings said conditions improved markedly on Thursday, however, as she motored into Monterey Bay with another charter group.

–Images are courtesy of Eric Austin Yee (top two) and Doug Croft

Sea lion’s wild ride on humpback whale captured in photos

A naturalist on Thursday captured an amusing series of images showing a sea lion that somehow ended up on the belly of a humpback whale

A naturalist on Thursday captured an amusing series of images showing a sea lion that somehow ended up on the belly of a humpback whale.

Eric Austin Yee, who was with Blue Ocean Whale Watch in California’s Monterey Bay, said the whale was lunge-feeding on anchovies and when it surfaced he hoped simply to capture sharp images of the whale.

“I knew I caught the lunge, but I didn’t even know the sea lion was there,” Yee told For The Win Outdoors. “I didn’t realize I caught the sea lion until Kate told me to look through the photos.”

Kate Cummings, captain of Blue Ocean’s vessel, High Spirits, posted the photos to Facebook with the description:

“Today our naturalist Eric Austin Yee caught the hilarious moment when a humpback whale launched out of the water lunge-feeding for anchovies and took an unsuspecting California sea lion for a ride!

“We commonly see humpback whales and sea lions feeding together on anchovies – but the sea lions have to be alert and get out of the whales’ way! This whale was too quick!”

Cummings told For The Win Outdoors that she could clearly see the sea lion “tumbling down the length of the whale.”

She added: “Apparently I was laughing so loud that the captain on the other boat could hear me. It was funny because you could tell the sea lion was fine, albeit completely surprised.”

When humpback whales are gorging on anchovies, the fish group tightly together in what are referred to as bait balls. When whales lunge through the bait balls, scattering the fish, sea lions and birds plunge in for their share.

In 2014, Cummings captured a spectacular image showing a pelican that had briefly become trapped in a lunge-feeding whale’s mouth (see photo below).

“We clearly saw the pelican get gobbled up, but then quickly released before the humpback submerged,” Cummings said after the incident. “The pelican looked perfectly fine – no evidence of wing damage or anything.”

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