Flirting with Amaya

Merry Christmas!
It's been about a year since my last public video with Amaya when she was five days old. She has grown up some since then. Normally I don't like to upload my interactions with my killer whale friends since they are very personal to me, but I'm in the mood so here it is.
From my observations of her over the past year, it seemed to take her a little longer compared to Makani to get more independent and develop her own "personality". When I observed her Uncle Makani during his first year it seemed he was a little quicker in this regard. With that said, Amaya has learned some things a little faster than Makani did during his first year.
She was about 10 1/2 to 11 months old in this video. As you can see I was getting her to come to me, but everyone started moving in and jamming me once I had her attention. This is understandable, and I have the same issue with the chimps at the L.A. Zoo. I usually shift to a side and let them all in which meant I had to give her up at times, but you will notice at one point she kept looking back over at me and then came back. Usually, I like to bring a small toy with me, but this time I left it in the car. So, I used a head band I had with me which I thought was kind of dumb, but she was interested in it. :)
The area that I'm most interested in with all animals I take videos of is their cognitive abilities. I have been very fortunate to observe both Makani and Amaya while they are so young (along with the rest of the pod, the other dolphins, seals, etc.). I'm thankful to Seaworld as a guest for allowing me this opportunity. While I have seen orcas in the ocean there are some things that are difficult to observe or can't be observed. For example, try getting a wild orca to observe its reflection in a mirror so you can see its reaction out in the ocean.
The music from Incompetech.com used is called Perspectives: tinyurl.com/qxn...