A New Baby Gets All the Attention!

I was so absorbed with the new baby discovery on Wednesday...I neglected to mention that Georgia K-11 was in the lead of the whales who were closer to the west side...Onyx L-87 was behind her and farther offshore...there were many whales miles offshore... I thought I saw Scoter K-25 through my binos but that's the only other K Pod whale...I know that J Pod was there but with K Pod doing so many unusual things during 2009, I can't assume that all of K Pod was there...was it just the K-11s? was the rest of K Pod there?...hum...
...but then reviewing the rest of my photos from the day...I noticed something else interesting (to me)... Princess Angeline J-17 was several hundred yards ahead of Polaris J-28 and the new new baby J-46. With J-17 was a young whale and it turned out that this youngster is Cookie J-38...I noticed a whale way far off through my binos and thought it was DoubleStuf J-34, Cookie's brother, who was about a mile offshore, parallel to Cookie's position, but Cookie was definitely traveling with P. A. J-17...but it was still interesting to see Cookie with J-17 and not J-44 with J-17.
So I am wondering what's up with that?
...behind Polaris and new baby J-46 were J-44 and oldest sister Tahlequah J-35...
...J-44 is not quite a year old yet, so okay, mom could have been
'leading the way - doing the Grand Introduction - you know ahead of daughter and GRAND DAUGHTER' maybe that's all it was...(I hope)...like I said before I'm a granny so I get to worry about these little guys!... yes, yes, Princess Angeline is a grandma now!!

I noticed a few times this past summer Cookie spending time with the J-17s and on one occasion Polaris actually 'delivered' him back to his mom Oreo J-22...and then Polaris returned back to Princess Angeline and J-35 and J-44...hum...very interesting...

...so until we see them again...enjoy the pics...don't forget to link back to the prior post to see the best ones of J-46 - boy did I get lucky!!

SPECULATIONS:

I looked up this morning the dates of the 2 sightings of a 'large group' of whales heading north toward the Campbell River. They were posted on Orca Network and the sightings were from the 4th and the 6th.

ONE OPERATIVE PHRASE IS: CURRENTLY MOVING IN CIRCLES...

the sighting on Nov 4th, from Ron Bates said that there were at least 5 males and 20 other orcas going north up Vancouver island toward the Campbell River...
the next report said:
that on Nov 6th, relayed from Marie O'Shaughnessy, there was a large pod of killer whales still in Strait of Georgia 10 to 15 animals and they were moving in circles...

WHY is the OPERATIVE PHRASE meaningful?

...I watched the day that J-42 was born (spring 2007) or had just been born...and guess what they did? They MOVED IN CIRCLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - and they did that all day long...

...the other operative phrase is AT LEAST 5 MALES...now this large group of 5 males could be Ruffles J-1, Mike J-26, Blackberry J-27, Riptide J-30 and Onyx L-87, however there is another other large male Lobo K-26 (that is if all of K pod was there) or it could have included Scoter K-25 if only the K-11s were present...I know it's only speculation...but I just bet that is what was going on...

...anyway that would put little J-46 at the age of about a week...he/she looks that young right??

...I imagine we will never know for sure, but it is interesting to attempt to put the puzzle pieces together and hope that these new little guys all make it through the winter...ah, but just think the last week has been nasty storms and if J-46 is a week or even more old -he/she's made it through some pretty nasty weather so far...

5 babies so far this year!!!

So the moms of 2009:
Surprise L-86, Samish J-14,
Princess Angeline J-17,
Calypso L-94 (possibly), and Polaris (J-28)

have made a request:

MORE SALMON PLEASE - WE NEED IT FOR OUR KIDS!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Make a Big Leap Little One!

How do I contain myself...not only did we hear whales..we saw them...
...and not only did we see them...we saw a NEW BABY!!! It looks like Polaris J-28 has a new one of her own...

I was listening to the Lime Kiln Hps today when I got a call from Monika that she was hearing calls on the Orca Sound Hps...I quickly flipped over...yes! there they were...I bolted out the door and headed for County Park figuring they were coming south...well, actually guessing...
I scanned and scanned for over a half hour but nothing...meantime JB was scanning from way up high where he lives and Monika was headed to the west side and Sandy was on alert from her place...and of course the phone tree was working!!!
...I went home to listen to the HPs again and when I walked in the door K Pod calls were coming over the Hps - several and a loud distinct J Pod call!!! Oh my! but where are they????
...grab food...other binocs...warmer clothes...out the door and back to County Park...
...this time it was only a few minutes before I saw a dorsal fin way north, just coming south along Henry Island...so I waited...and watched...but of course in the meantime...I called this one and that...and had to leave messages - yikes!!!little did any of us know...
...okay...it was time to continue south to Lime Kiln and watch from there...the whales were far offshore and there were a few who looked like they were pretty close to shore but they were still north of County Park..
...as the whales approached Lime Kiln, I had my binos up and saw a calf straight up out of the water and sort of like falling forward...I noticed how orange the calf looked, but I didn't want to start any rumors - I SHOULD HAVE!!!...they weren't in close but I was able to get some pictures...a group of about 4 with one really SMALL one...too small to be J-44 or J-45...but...ohhhh....and then I saw this tiny calf surface with a female in front and another small calf behind - THAT confirmed it for me!! A NEW BABY..Monika got pictures too and we've both sent them in to the Center for Whale Research for verification...it sure looks like we may have J-46 in our midst!! Whoo - hoo!!!!! JUST CONFIRMED 5 PM. BY THE CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH - NEW CALF J-46!!!

I met some folks at Lime Kiln...I had brought out the speakers so they could hear any vocalizations or echolocation clicks..the whales were not too vocal..no worries...I made up for that with all the excitement of a new calf...the woman said it was her daughter's birthday and she wanted to see whales for her birthday - Wish Granted!! ...and then some...

then I heard it was Ken Balcomb's birthday - wow, nice birthday present for him too!

whew! Chasing those sail boats (my previous post) kept me in shape for today...you just never know what the day holds!!!!!