It was mid-day Nov. 11 and a new baby whale was swimming with its mother on the west side of San Juan Island. A few hours later, at sunset, the calf and its extended family swam past the Victoria, B.C. waterfront before turning back to Admiralty Inlet for the night.

The calf stirred media interest, as its family appeared to be “showing off” for curious crowds while in search of food, and was designated J46, or “Star.”

It is one of five new calves born this year. The Salish Sea killer whale population is now at 87 animals. Salish Sea is the new common name for the waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Georgia Strait.

Howard Garrett, cofounder of Greenbank-based Orca Network, says five births is a higher-than-average number; the last time that many were born in a year was 1996.

Naming the newest calf Star was an innovation for the Friday Harbor Whale Museum staff, as newborns aren’t usually named within their first year.

“The center wants to draw attention to the new baby because it will show us if we are succeeding at restoring the habitat for whales,” Garrett said.

Star is the first baby born to J28, also named “Polaris,” and first-borns have the highest mortality rates.

The main danger is toxic build-up that is passed to the calves before birth, and through the mother’s milk. They come from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were banned in the U.S. but still appear in the ecosystem. There are also flame retardants in the waters which mimic and block hormones and compromise the immune system.

In first-borns, 70 percent of the mother’s toxic load goes into the baby.

The J pod is the most watched family of whales in the Pacific Northwest, and Garrett said they will closely monitor Star. If the whale remains healthy, it will be good indicator of a cleaner Puget Sound and more abundant fish populations.

“There’s been a lot of clean up and a big one that I think has a lot of attention is the Nisqually wetlands near Olympia,” Garrett said.

As part of a restoration effort that wrapped earlier this year, dikes were moved in the Nisqually River to give 762 acres back to the tides. The wetlands filter out toxins in the water and provided a habitat for a number of critters, including chinook salmon.

“It’s a big success story for farmers, tribes and a lot of volunteers who brought down those dikes,” Garrett said.

Worldwide, researchers and volunteers will be watching to see if the calves beat the odds and all survive. There are three calves in the J pod and two in the L pod, born between Jan. 21 and Nov. 11.

“This is the reality show that really means something,” the Orca Network staff said in a press release.

To catch a glimpse of the new calves, Garrett recommends using Fort Casey in Coupeville as an outlook. In the winter months, the orcas travel to the South Sound to pursue chum, their second favorite fish to salmon.

“It’s very hard to predict when they’ll be there,” Garrett said. “Lately they go by in the night.”

To report a whale siting in your area, call the Orca Network toll-free number, 1-866-ORCANET.