A dolphin super super-pod and unusual orca behaviour

Two interesting and unusual cetacean events have caught our eye over the last week, with one observer being “lost for words” at what they saw.

A private boat tour company, Monterey Bay Whale Watch, was scouting in the ocean south of San Francisco when its captain, Evan Brodsky, described seeing the water "exploding in a foam of bubbles". The vessel had come across an astonishing super-pod of 2,000 northern right whale dolphins - incredible!

Brodsky described the dolphins leaping into the air, spy-hopping and tail-slapping. Northern right whale dolphins are an unusual sight. They lack a dorsal fin, and the adults are glossy jet black, with white bellies. At sea, they are sometimes mistaken for herds of fur seals and sea lions due to their dark, streamlined body.

"They're all smooth," Brodsky said in an interview with The Associated Press. "When they jump, they look like flying eyebrows."

The calves, he told CBC, are more of a "battleship grey" and look like "little footballs jumping out of the water next to mum….It was a big, fun social event." You can watch an incredible video of the super-pod here.

Northern right whale dolphins are found in the deep, cold to warm temperate waters of the Pacific Ocean. They usually travel in groups of 100 to 200 individuals but sometimes travel in groups of up to 3,000. They are “acrobatic” swimmers and can leap more than 6 metres over the surface of the water.

Northern right whale dolphins are known to be highly social and often mix with other dolphin species. But, usually, they stick to deeper waters, which means tour boats rarely come across them. Brodsky’s company had also recorded a super-pod of 1500+ Risso’s dolphins in the same area last month.

Meanwhile, further up the West coast in Seattle, it was a pod of Bigg's killer whales that made the news. Watched by a crowd of onlookers, one of the orcas was filmed appearing to catch an unfortunate grebe (an aquatic diving bird) in its mouth and then dive underwater.

Bigg’s killer whales are orcas that usually prey on marine mammals such as sea lions or porpoises. They visit the waters off Seattle occasionally and both dedicated and casual whale watchers shadow them as they explore. The pod sighted on Sunday has ventured into Seattle waters several times over the past month. While it is possible that the grebe was an opportune snack, its just as likely that the orca saw it as something to play with.