South Whidbey’s orca community is mourning what appears to be the loss of a new calf.

The Center for Whale Research confirmed that seven-week-old baby L120, the third known offspring of the 23-year old Southern Resident orca L86, was not with his or her mother when L pod was photographed recently in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

“L86 was seen and photographed on Friday, Saturday, and Monday, all without L120,” said Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research in a recent news release.

Southern Resident orcas, which travel between California and Alaska, are a distinct population segment of a sub-species composed of J, K and L pods, totaling 80 individuals. They’re unique in that they don’t interbreed with other orcas of the world.

Langley-based Orca Network President Howard Garret said the calf was the first Southern Resident baby in years and that news of its seeming demise was sorely disappointing.

“The new baby we were celebrating a month ago is gone,” he said.

Scientists don’t know what happened to the calf, but Garrett suspects its death may be linked to low Chinook salmon populations, Southern Residents’ primary food source. He said it could also have died from natural causes, such as infection.

“We really don’t know,” he said, adding that mortality rates among orca babies is roughly believed to be as high as 35 percent.

L120 was not only the first Southern Resident baby in years, it was the first newborn Southern Resident offspring seen since August 2012. In February of that year the body of L86’s second offspring, 3-year-old female L112, washed up at Long Beach, Wash., with indications of death by severe acoustic trauma, the news release said.

Hope remains, however, as J32 was rumored to be pregnant in June. Gestation periods are 17 months, which means a new calf could still be on the way.

“It would be great if she showed up here with a new baby,” Garrett said. “It would really lift spirits.”

Now down to only 78 members, the Southern Resident community is at or below its numbers in 2001 when alarms rang with such intensity that they were eventually listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2005.