Aerial images of Southern Resident killer whales.

(Above) An adult female (J36) with her young juvenile (J52). Sadly, J52 is in emaciated condition, displaying a “peanut head”, the result of diminished fat deposits around the head. Note that the white eye patches narrow posterior to the blowhole and trace the outline of the cranium.

(Below) An adult female (L91) with her young juvenile (L122). L91 successfully caught a large a Chinook salmon, the preferred prey of this population, and is shown carrying it before she shared it with L122. Aerial images were obtained using an unmanned hexacopter that was flown >100ft above the whales under NMFS permit #19091.