Jodi C. Smith is the Executive Director of Naked Whale Research. She has relocated to the Irish Beach area to study the endangered Southern Resident pods of Killer Whales - known as J, K and L pods. These Orcas are on the move. They have spent the summer months south of Vancouver Island and in Puget Sound. Now they are passing by the Mendonoma Coast. On Jan. 10th K pod was spotted a mile off of Little River. Jodi went out in a boat to get these photos. As you can probably tell, the seas were rough.

This last photo shows the very tall dorsal fin. According to Jodi these Orcas are specialized fish eaters, with Chinook salmon being their favorite.

Today the weather is clear  with few whitecaps on the ocean - perfect weather for spotting Gray Whales and hopefully K pod! Thanks to Jodi for allowing me to share her photos with you. To learn more about her work, here's her website: http://www.nakedwhaleresearch.org/ You can also follow her blog on this website.