Orcas. Kamchatka Peninsula

Killer whales are predators of the Delphinidae family, toothed whales. There are plenty of killer whale species, some of them prefer feeding on fin-footed mammals, sharks and even whales whereas others prefer fish and shell-fish. I've taken photos of not carnivore killer whales. That was a one big family hunting for fish during a sunny windless day. There are scores of fish on Kamchatka so their hunting looked rather laid-back and leisured. One of the shots shows some fish just jump right into the mouth of a killer whale. Throughout 4 seasons I've been trying to take photos of killer whales by the shores of Kamchatka. It seemed to me that I won't be able to take pictures better than previous year but this time the conditions were just perfect. If you wish to have the same results, here are a couple of tips: 1. Don't sink your drone while landing 2. Make use of a polarizing filter since it'll make water look more transparent. While watching the video it is hard to understand the size of killer whales. The males can grow up to 10 m long and can weigh up to 8 tons. The females are slightly smaller, up to 8.7 m long. Their average lifespan is approximately equal to the human one: it is considered to be 50 years for a male and 75-100 years for a female. You can get a glimpse of killer whale babies in this video. A newborn killer whale is 2.5-2.7 m long. Killer whales aren't afraid of people and don't attack them since they don't prey on people. They also aren't afraid of ships and vessels sailing nearby. As it turned out, they don't fear drones as well. When they swim past a yacht, you can clearly hear them communicate by whistling and yelping. Truly amazing animals they are! Would you like to see them in the wild? 4K D-Log footage available contact me: dedmaxopka@gmail.com Audio: Philip G Anderson - Moss