Featured Image Credit: Scotty Sinton
By Kira Krall
It’s orca season in New Zealand! Three distinct subpopulations of New Zealand orca whales can be found swimming in its waters and Shelly Nixy got an up close encounter with one pod member.
Nixy was visiting the beach in Auckland, New Zealand when she and her traveling group saw a pod of six orcas apparently hunting for lunch. Watch her video below! Fast forward to 1:00 to get an up-close look at this fantastic cetacean!
Earlier that day, more orcas were seen swimming just feet away from the tide line. Yet another orca sighting occurred the day before at the nearby Rangitoto Island, shown above. All of these sightings were likely from the same pod, just split for a little private dining.
Usually made up of one matriarch, her familial females and their calves, orca pods have different diets. Some pods eat exclusively fish, while others specialize in shark du jour or stingray hunting. Different pods even have their own unique clicking and whistling pattern. You can think of that like an orca dialect!
Historically, more orcas are seen this time of years than any other time of year. This could be because of many factors including prey availability or water temperature. Orcas are also known to forage in shallow bays, which is exactly where the orcas were spotted. You can read more about New Zealand orcas in this paper published by the Orca Research Trust.