Published on Apr 20, 2014 
 
 PLEASE READ: Note that there was a lot of swell that rocked the boat so the shakiness of the video is out of my control. A very unexpected and wild encounter in the bay on Easter: at least 20 transient killer whales participated in a coordinated attack on a gray whale calf and its mother. The entire attack lasted about 2 hours culminating with the calf tiring out, being separated from its mother, and drowned. There was enough time for me to try to get both pictures and videos and I figured videos would be valuable for observing whale behavior. 
 
 
 
 Transient Killer Whales and Gray Whales at Monterey Bay on 4/20/14. 
 
 
 
 Do not use without permission. ||||| A group of boaters watched in horror last week as a horde of killer whales attacked a mother gray whale and its young calf off the coast of California. 
 
 The hunt lasted for nearly two hours in the Monterey Bay on April 20 and whale watchers say about 20 transient orcas worked to separate the little whale as it clung desperately to its mom. 
 
 "They came in waves, like attack swarms of hockey players," said Bart Selby, a field scout, to the San Francisco Gate newspaper. 
 
 The watchers could see the baby on top of its mom as she "fought valiantly," Selby said. The orcas would rotate a small group in and out for the attack. 
 
 The mother gray whale is shown keeping her calf above the water as a horde of killer whales attack. (Leo Lin) 
 
 “We could see a lot of struggling going on,” whale watcher Leo Lin told the Daily News. 
 
 He saw blood on the flippers of the calf where the predators had been biting him. 
 
 The orcas eventually knocked the calf off its mom and drowned it as a patch of fog rolled into the bay. 
 
 The killer whales fought for nearly two hours to separate the gray whale calf from its mother in the waters of the Monterey Bay on April 20. (Courtesy of Leo Lin) The mother tried desperately to protect her calf, but lost the fight. The killer whales drowned her baby. (Courtesy of Leo Lin) 
 
 The mother quickly fled the area as the orcas fed on the calf and celebrated by breaching and slapping their tails on the water, Selby added. 
 
 The attacks by transient orcas on gray whales are considered a normal part of marine life along the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 They prey on porpoises, sea lions and other whales, according to the Port Townsend Marine Science Center's website. This differs from resident orcas of the Washington and British Columbia waters, which rely on salmon. 
 
 nhensley@nydailynews.com 
 
 Follow me on Twitter: @nkhensley ||||| 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Photo: Bart Selby Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Image 2 of 14 Orcas circle around kill of baby gray whale, taking turns to dive and feast Orcas circle around kill of baby gray whale, taking turns to dive and feast Photo: Bart Selby Image 3 of 14 Orcas attacked whales like a swarm of charging hockey players Orcas attacked whales like a swarm of charging hockey players Photo: Bart Selby Image 4 of 14 Gray whale tries to fend off orca Gray whale tries to fend off orca Photo: Bart Selby Image 5 of 14 Image 6 of 14 Attacke mode in full view of whale watchers Attacke mode in full view of whale watchers Photo: Bart Selby Image 7 of 14 Gray whale calf tries to climb on back of mother gray whale to escape Gray whale calf tries to climb on back of mother gray whale to escape Photo: Bart Selby Image 8 of 14 Orcas separate calf from mother Orcas separate calf from mother Photo: Bart Selby Image 9 of 14 Orcas working in tandem Orcas working in tandem Photo: Bart Selby Image 10 of 14 Image 11 of 14 Tory Kallman of Corte Madera photographs the post-kill scene Tory Kallman of Corte Madera photographs the post-kill scene Photo: Bart Selby Image 12 of 14 An orca in full breach to celebrate kill and feast of baby gray whale An orca in full breach to celebrate kill and feast of baby gray whale Photo: Bart Selby Image 13 of 14 Black-footed albatross skims surface for leftovers after whale attack Black-footed albatross skims surface for leftovers after whale attack Photo: Bart Selby Image 14 of 14 Orcas attack gray whales in Monterey Bay (11 pics) 1 / 14 Back to Gallery 
 
 Nature’s truth and tragedy unfolded in a dramatic scene on Monterey Bay last week when a pack of 20 orcas attacked a mother gray whale and its calf. 
 
 The fight lasted more than two hours, witnessed and photographed by field scout Bart Selby, and dozens aboard whale watching boats that cruised at top speeds to the periphery of the scene and cut their engines. 
 
 In the past year, Monterey Bay has become the richest marine region on the Pacific Coast. In the past three weeks, it has reached a new peak with unbelievable hordes of anchovies, along with other baitfish, and with it, the highest numbers of salmon, marine birds, sea lions, gray whales, humpback whales and orcas anywhere. 
 
 The bay ignited with life again in early April after the howling winds out of the north in late March set off upwelling in the underwater canyon and jump-started the marine food chain. 
 
 At deepwater marine ledges, such as the Continental Shelf west of the Bay Area coast and the Monterey Underwater Canyon, strong north winds will push surface waters to the side, which allows cold, nutrient-rich water to rise up from the depths to the shallows. When sunlight penetrates that nutrient-rich water, it triggers plankton growth, and in turn, the building blocks of the marine food chain. 
 
 Monterey’s marine paradise 
 
 Although the salmon forecast for the coming year is excellent in many areas on the Pacific Coast, best offshore southern Washington and San Francisco, it is Monterey Bay that has had the fish, the best catches, and on top of it, a spectacular sightings of whales and other marine wildlife. 
 
 “The biomass of anchovies out there, just billions of tons of feed, is incredible,” said Todd Arcoleo at Chris’s Fishing Trips in Monterey. “It’s brought in the salmon, humpback whales, sea lions, orcas. It’s incredible, just an incredible year.” 
 
 A week ago Monday, the humpbacks and killer whales arrived. Tony Lorenz on the Sea Wolf sent me an alert, that he saw 50 humpback whales between Point Joe and Point Lobos. 
 
 “Six were real friendly, and swam right up to us,” Lorenz said. “For a prolonged period, we saw them breaching, lunge feeding, pec slapping and plenty of tail throws.” 
 
 A school of Pacific white-sided dolphin, numbering over a thousand, has also been sighted, Lorenz and others reported. 
 
 Selby, a kayaker, wildlife expert and photographer, heard about the whales and headed straight to Monterey. In 2011, Selby paddled a kayak solo 25 miles from Santa Cruz to Monterey, and two weeks ago, reported sighting a mother gray whale and its calf lounging on the inshore waters at Whaler’s Cove at Pigeon Point near Pescadero. 
 
 Selby boarded the Point Sur Clipper with Monterey’s champion whale specialist, Nancy Black, and they quickly found the orcas, more than 20 in all, on the hunt. 
 
 Orcas find gray whales 
 
 At mid-afternoon, the orcas found a mother gray whale with a calf. 
 
 “They came in waves, like attacking swarms of hockey players,” Selby said. “When one group got tired, then the entire line would rotate out and orbit the center ring while a new swarm of orcas pressed the attack.” 
 
 Just as a pack of coyotes will try to separate a fawn from its protective mother, the orcas tried to pry the calf away from its mother as well. 
 
 “The fight lasted over two hours,” Selby said. “The orcas came in in groups of four or five and tried to separate the whales and drown the baby. They would pulse forward in an attacking line four or five abreast and dive under and on top of the whales. 
 
 “The mother fought valiantly. The whales rolled and flailed at their assailants. 
 
 “The calf tried to stay on the back of her mom, hooking her tail over mom’s spine, tucking in her flipper so the orcas could not grab them, and even draping her body on top of mom,” Selby said. “Mom fought and fought. We could just see the baby on top of her, often out of the water. The orcas tried to swim between them and dove under and rushed to the surface, pummeling her from below.” 
 
 It took a series of prolonged assaults, coming in wave after wave, but they finally succeeded. 
 
 With the calf pushed to the side of its mother, the orcas then dragged the baby whale below the surface and drowned it, Selby said. 
 
 “I’ve been around enough to know that nature is cruel, but it was hard to watch,” he said. 
 
 A feeding spectacle 
 
 The orcas then took turns feeding, where they dove down in small groups to take their turns. All the while, the orcas put on a show where they breached, tail slapped. “It was like they were celebrating their victory,” Selby said. 
 
 The mother gray whale abandoned the area quickly. Four big humpbacks showed up to see what was going on, Selby said, and were then harassed by the orcas. Hundreds of gulls and a half-dozen albatross grabbed the leftovers that floated to the surface. 
 
 As dusk arrived, the boats returned to port, and by the time they reached land, word had already circulated up and down the coast of the spectacle. 
 
 In the past few days, Lorenz reported another attack, where the orcas dragged a carcass of a baby whale around for hours, and then when a sea lion showed up to see what was going on, it got nailed, too. 
 
 Sighting killer whales in Monterey Bay is likely through May, he said. 
 
 Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicle’s outdoors writer. E-mail: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com. Daily twitter at: @StienstraTom 
 
 If you want to go
– Whale watchers witnessed quite a grueling battle this week when a group of twenty orcas attacked a female gray whale and its calf off the California coast, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Like a pack of coyotes, the orcas tried separating the child from its mother—who fought back valiantly for more than two hours. The orcas "came in waves, like attacking swarms of hockey players," said Bart Selby, who photographed the whole fight in Monterey Bay (the Chronicle has eleven pics). When one orca group grew weary, it would move out and orbit "while a new swarm of orcas pressed the attack," he said. The calf tried to survive by hiding behind her mom, hiding her tail on mom's spine, tucking in her flipper, and even lying on top of her. "We could see a lot of struggling going on," a whale watcher told the Daily News. Finally the orcas grabbed the baby and pulled it under the surface to drown it. "I’ve been around enough to know that nature is cruel, but it was hard to watch," said Selby. At feeding time, the orcas jumped from the water and slapped their tales in apparent celebration—as the mother gray quickly swam off, and gulls dived by the hundreds to feed on remains floating to the surface. Such attacks aren't uncommon, the Chronicle notes—an orca group killed a baby whale and a curious sea lion a few days before. You can see the latest fight on YouTube.