Southern California – Syndication Server

Watch: SoCal captain immortalizes rare orca encounter with selfie

Several killer whales from Mexico and points south were spotted off Los Angeles County on Monday, attracting crowds of whale watchers.

Several orcas from Mexico were spotted off Los Angeles County on Monday, attracting crowds of whale watchers.

The Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales (ETPs) were hunting dolphins but became extremely boat friendly at times, riding wakes and interacting with passengers.

One prominent captain, Ryan Lawler of Newport Coastal Adventure and Pacific Offshore Expeditions, capitalized on a rare opportunity to capture a video selfie with one of the mammals. (Footage posted below.)

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Alisa Schulman-Janiger of the California Killer Whale Project was with Lawler and said about a dozen orcas were present, traveling in sub-groups. They included two small calves.

“They mugged every boat,” Schulman-Janiger said, referring to the friendly behavior. (Video below shows mugging behavior.)

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Passengers watched the ETPs ram and kill a large bottlenose dolphin, an adult common dolphin, and a common dolphin calf.

The sighting initial sighting was logged at 8:30 a.m. in the Catalina Channel, seven miles off San Pedro, by Catalina Express Capt. Mike Jackson.

News quickly spread and vessel operators hurried to locate the gregarious mammals.

ETP orcas, which are fairly common in the Sea of Cortez and elsewhere in Mexico, rarely visit Southern California. But when they do it becomes a major event for marine mammal enthusiasts.

Schulman-Janiger said the ETPs were last spotted Monday evening seven miles off Lunada Bay, at the southern edge of Santa Monica Bay.

NFL monitoring Chargers vs. Saints status as Hurricane Hilary approaches

The NFL is keeping a close eye on Hurricane Hilary’s forecast.

The Chargers are set to host the Saints in a preseason game on Sunday, but the NFL is monitoring the situation with Hurricane Hilary as it approaches the West Coast.

“We continue to monitor the weather and will (update the situation) if anything changes,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Friday, per NOLA.com’s Jeff Duncan.

There are no plans to cancel or move the game as of now.

The storm has intensified to Category 4, and Southern California is under a tropical storm watch for the first time ever. No tropical storm has made landfall in So Cal since Sept. 25, 1939, according to the National Weather Service.

Kickoff is slated for 4:05 pm PT at SoFi Stadium.

Jasmine Koo tops Sadie Englemann to capture 123rd Women’s Western Amateur

“I came into the week not knowing what to expect, and to win the whole thing is such an honor.”

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It was a special week for those involved with the USC women’s golf team at the Women’s Western Amateur.

Sophomore Catherine Park won stroke play, earning the top seed for match play. However, it was Jasmine Koo, a 17-year-old Class of 2024 commit to the Trojans, who’s walking away with one of the oldest trophies, the W.A. Alexander Cup, in amateur golf. Koo beat Stanford rising senior Sadie Englemann 4 and 2 to capture the 123rd Women’s Western Amateur on Saturday at White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville, Illinois.

“I came into the week not knowing what to expect, and to win the whole thing is such an honor,” Koo said. “This is the biggest win I’ve had, so I’ll always remember this week.”

Koo, 13th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, made six birdies in the championship match to etch her name on the W.A. Alexander Cup and become the first junior to win the Women’s Western Amateur since 2015.

She played 116 holes this week, finishing 27 under with 34 birdies and only seven bogeys. Koo, a rising high school senior, finished stroke play in third.

Held without interruption since its inception in 1901, the Women’s Western Amateur is among the oldest and most prestigious annual championships in women’s amateur golf. The tournament is conducted jointly by the Women’s Western Golf Association and the Western Golf Association.

Watch: Partially blind cougar shows why she’s still a super mom

A cougar nicknamed Uno because she has only one good eye was caught on a trail camera recently proving why she’s still a super mom.

The nighttime footage, captured by cameras monitored by Nathalie Orozco and Mark Girardeau, shows Uno dragging a deer carcass through the Southern California wilderness with two cubs in tow.

As viewers can see, light from the infrared camera reflects from only one of Uno’s eyes. Biologists believe she’s partially blind in the other eye, perhaps because of an old injury.

But it’s clear that she’s able to fend for herself and her offspring.

On Tuesday, Girardeau shared the footage to his Orange County Outdoors social media pages.

“Uno scored a nice meal!” he exclaimed on Facebook. “Every animal in nature has its role: deer graze the grass and spread seeds while mountain lions keep the deer population under control to prevent overgrazing.

ALSO: Yellowstone elk has perfect response to taunts from a tourist

“After bears were extirpated from Orange County, mountain lions are the only animals left to play this vital role as the keystone species that they are.”

Uno before being collared. Photo: ©Mark Girardeau

Girardeau told FTW Outdoors that he has been monitoring Uno’s habitat with trail cameras since 2019. Biologists from UC Davis put a tracking collar on Uno a year ago. The mountain lion is cataloged as F312.

“This is a decent sized deer as you can see Uno struggling to move it to a safe place before retrieving her kittens to feed with her,” Girardeau continued, adding that Uno’s cubs are about 7 months old.

The father of the cubs is believed to be Toro (M313), who also appears sporadically in trail-cam footage.

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College Football Playoff 2023: LSU surges, Tennessee slides as playoff picture becomes clear in fourth rankings

Will Rivalry Week add chaos to the playoff picture or will the top four solidify their semifinal spots?

For The Win is tracking the College Football Playoff rankings all season long. We’ll have updated title odds and notes on each contender every Tuesday the rankings are revealed. The first, second and third rankings can be found here.

Rivalry Week is upon the college football world and some playoff-hopefuls will have an easier time than others as the CFP committee’s latest rankings made clear.

No. 1 Georgia gets to face a 5-6 Georgia Tech team at Sanford Stadium—though Tech is coming off its best win of the season after defeating No. 13 UNC, 21-17, last week.

No. 4 TCU hosts a similarly lowly Iowa State team.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Ohio State hosts No. 3 Michigan to decide which team will play in the Big Ten Championship and essentially lock up a playoff spot. That game may very well decide who wins the Heisman Trophy as well.

And the drama rounds out with No. 6 USC facing No. 15 Notre Dame while No. 5 LSU get Texas A&M.

The College Football Playoff Committee just set the table for the home stretch of the postseason run. Let’s check out the full rankings.

Dinich on how the CFP committee would differentiate between Clemson and Southern Cal

ESPN analyst Heather Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff committee, gave her thoughts on the CFP rankings on Tuesday night’s SportsCenter before the rankings show. Dinich was asked how the committee would differentiate between a one-loss …

ESPN analyst Heather Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff committee, gave her thoughts on the CFP rankings on Tuesday night’s SportsCenter before the rankings show.

Dinich was asked how the committee would differentiate between a one-loss Clemson and a one-loss Southern California.

“Well, on paper, they are actually pretty similar in terms of resume,” Dinich said. “I will be very curious to see tonight where South Carolina and North Carolina are ranked because it is possible (Clemson) ends the season with two wins against two ranked opponents. But USC also has that opportunity if they beat Notre Dame and then win in the Pac-12 conference championship game.”

How Southern Cal plays against the Irish Saturday night could be the deciding factor.

“But Notre Dame is a huge separating factor between these two teams,” Dinich said. “Remember, Notre Dame didn’t just beat Clemson. They beat them soundly, 35-14, in South Bend and the selection committee absolutely compares common opponents.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

What the experts are predicting: Notre Dame at Syracuse

Can the Irish survive the Dome?

Finally, there is enough interest in Notre Dame that people are predicting one of its games again. Still, it’s worth wondering if it would be happening this week were Syracuse not ranked. You have to hate that we’re having this discussion, but alas.

Let’s look at what some college football experts, including fellow College Wire sites, are predicting for this game:

Social Media reacts to Southern Cal and UCLA joining Big Ten in 2024

Big changes are coming to the Big Ten and college football.

It’s official, in 2024, the University of Southern California and UCLA will join the Big Ten Conference. The two schools were notified Thursday night that all 14 member schools had unanimously approved their application to join the conference.

Conference realignment continues to be a consistent storyline of the last decade, and that story won’t end anytime soon. See below for social media reactions from conference officials, school administrators, and media members on the biggest story in college football this year. The Trojans and the Bruins are joining the Big Ten. A conference once confined to the great lakes region now stretches from one coast to the other. And I don’t think Comishoner Kevin Warren and Big Ten Conference are yet done. I’m willing to guarantee that more teams are coming to the now 16-team conference.

‘Get back, mountain lion!’ Tense encounter caught on video

A photographer who monitors trail cameras in Southern California mountain lion habitat experienced a dangerously close encounter with one of the predators on Friday.

A photographer who monitors trail cameras in the Southern California wilderness experienced a dangerously close mountain lion encounter on Friday.

Mark Girardeau, who was hiking with Rachel de Vlugt in Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon, shared footage of their 5 p.m. encounter via Instagram.

Girardeau told FTW Outdoors that he and de Vlugt had just checked a few cameras when he saw the mountain lion run up a hill and stop to watch them from perhaps 20 feet away.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Elk not shown proper respect, knocks man over wall; video

In the footage the male mountain lion, or cougar, peers intently through bushes and does not flinch as Girardeau repeatedly yells, “Get back!” in an attempt to keep the animal at bay.

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A post shared by Mark Girardeau (@markgirardeau)

As they slowly back away, the cat briefly follows.

Girardeau’s Instagram description reads: “I think there are two things that could have caused this: either he has a kill nearby and he was defending it or he ran up not realizing we were humans since he couldn’t completely see us from down below.

“There were deer in the area that we saw so he probably assumed it was them.”

Mountain lions in Southern California prey largely on mule deer, which they stalk and ambush.

Girardeau wrote: “Mountain lions do not predate on humans and this is why it’s good to hold your ground because any prey item for mountain lions runs away. If you don’t do this, the mountain lion is not going to assume you are prey.”

Girardeau, whose social media feeds contains cougar footage captured by motion-sensor cameras, told FTW Outdoors that about two minutes passed before the cougar stopped following them.

–Image courtesy of Mark Girardeau

Newborn gray whale bonds with mom in touching footage

Gray whale sightings are increasing off Southern California and some moms aren’t waiting until they reach Mexico to have their babies.

Gray whale sightings are increasing off Southern California and some of the moms aren’t waiting until they reach Mexico to have their babies.

The accompanying footage, captured Tuesday off Dana Point in Orange County, shows a cow-calf pair swimming slowly southward and beautifully illustrates the special bond that forms between a whale mom and her offspring.

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At times the newborn – perhaps only a day old – is resting on mom’s back near her fluke, and mom is seen gently hoisting the calf just high enough for it to take breaths.

The drone footage was captured Tuesday by Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari, and Dana Wharf Whale Watching.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CMcVx62CQE]

Both videos show the same cow-calf pair, and while the top video shows the whales in more detail, the bottom video shows interaction between sea lions and Pacific white-sided dolphins, and the newborn whale.

The footage helps to illustrate that, contrary to popular belief, not all gray whale calves are born in lagoons on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

Photo credit: Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari in Dana Point, California

The whales are migrating from Arctic feeding areas to the lagoons, where nursing and breeding occurs.

Schulman-Janiger said the peak period to watch northbound cow-calf pairs off Southern California is late April and early May.

–Videos courtesy of Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari and Dana Wharf Whale Watching. Photos courtesy of Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari