That’s what you call “timing.” Photo: Cindi Rausch
On March 21, a remarkable photograph of an orca named Quiver blew up on the Facebook page of Washington State’s Orca Network Community Group, a grass-roots organization that helps monitor Puget Sound’s orca population. The moment was captured by a Whidbey Island-based photographer named Cindi Rausch. Having some years ago moved to the island from Texas, Rausch, a retired high school literature teacher, had never seen a whale of any sort until one day in 2021, when heading back to her car after a morning beach walk, she passed a group of bystanders, all armed with binoculars and long-lensed cameras.
“Hey, where’ya going?” they inquired. “Whales are on the way!”
Orcas, to be exact. But not just any old orcas, as Rausch would soon discover, when taking her place among the excited crowd, she immediately became captivated by the compelling story playing out in front of her.
“I was told the orca family group approaching was designated T46,” Rausch recalls. “Which was primarily comprised of offspring of a very famous female orca named ‘Wake.’ In 1976, Wake and five other young orcas were captured and held in a netted pen in South Puget Sound for sale to various marine parks. This violent ‘orca roundup’ was witnessed by Washington governor’s aide Ralph Munro, and the public outcry following his publicized first-hand account led not only to the release of Wake and the rest of the “Budd Inlet Six,” but a total ban on all orca capture in Washington state waters.”
Quite understandably, Wake judiciously avoided all human contact until 13 years later, when she reemerged to public view accompanied by two daughters. Since that time, and until her death in 2023 at an estimated age of 57, Wake, as her family’s matriarch, is recognized by both researchers and orca-lovers alike as one of her species most prolific mothers. Having helped successfully rear a total of 27 offspring, she’s revered for the significant role she played in the current healthy state of today’s orca population.
This was Wake’s extended family Rausch was introduced to that day, and from that day on, she became a dedicated orca-watcher, fired by a combination of intellectual curiosity and awe.
“These are apex predators, powerful, fierce creatures with teeth that tear prey apart,” says Rausch. “There’s nothing in the water they fear. Yet at the same time, they’re sleek, graceful, incredibly social animals, and intensely loyal to their families. It’s this dichotomy that really got me.”
That, and getting to know each member of this family individually.
“After years of observation, you get to know every member of the T46 family by name,” Rausch explains. “Recognizing each not only by their distinctive dorsal fins and markings, but by their different personalities.”
On this particular afternoon, after receiving notification that the family group was sighted off Whidbey’s Keystone Inlet, Rausch, who out of sheer necessity had become an accomplished wildlife photographer, grabbed her big lens and rushed to the water’s edge. There she was just in time to document not only T46 members Thor, Loki, Strider, Quiver and Centeki successfully hunting down and killing an unlucky male Stellar sea lion, but the added presence of a lone outrigger canoe paddler (which just happened to be me in my OC1), fortunate enough to find himself in the right place at the right time to witness the ensuing drama and its celebratory aftermath.
“This particular photo really resonates because of the perspective,” says Rausch. “We usually only see the whale’s dorsal fin and back. It’s rare to see the full body, the whole whale. But with the juxtaposing of the paddler in the frame, you’re struck by the whale’s enormity. And this is just Quiver, one of the family’s younger, smaller orcas. Yet what also makes the photo interesting is how the paddler is looking at Quiver in such a relaxed manner, and Quiver is obviously looking back. It’s just one of those images that I never could’ve anticipated.”
This, and many other photos of the T46 family group, can be found at cindirausch.smugmug.org
