My Other Favorite

So, I'm going to switch gears and post about my other favorite animal, the animal that lured me into this wonderful world of biology and animal behavior, Orcinus orca, the killer whale. Like most people, my first experience seeing an orca was at a marine park, but it wasn't 'til I saw a free-living killer whale that I was truly smitten. As much as I love the tucos, nothing takes my breath away like this magnificent blackfish. I had signed up for a whale watching trip while camping in the San Juan Islands off Washington's coast and found myself on a boat with whales jumping and spyhopping (like you see in the pic to your left) and tail lobbing and swimming under our boat. It was the most amazing thing ever.... until I discovered kayaking.

Kayaking opened my eyes to the world of sea life in an up-close personal way. Whales, birds, inverts, and all manner of critters who made their living in a salty environment thrilled me. One day I was looking through a book and saw a picture of a kayaker with an orca swimming right by him. I said to myself, "I want to be that kayaker someday!". And those of you who know me, know that is exactly what happened and what I do every summer. I become that kayaker... enjoying the beauty of the Pacific Northwest in the presence of orcas.
It has changed my life. Really. Kayaking with orcas inspired my return to school and though I chose not to study them (for reasons I won't go into now), I find that each year, hanging out with orcas in the San Juans, I am re-energized, re-focused, and reminded why I study biology in the first place. We live in a magnificent world, one which we share with the most amazing beasts. How lucky we are! And what responsibility we have to make sure that we care for this great, blue planet that houses us all. I could write a ton more on this topic but the last thing I want to mention is that the Southern Resident Killer Whales, the pod I am privileged to paddle with, has been struggling for some time now because we've interfered with their food supply, the salmon. There's a lot of work to be done to be able to save that supply, which means sacrifices on our part so that both fish and mammal have a better chance at survival, and that, selfishly, I'll get to continue to find my joy in their midst for many summers to come.