11/27/11 Whale of A Surprise In Store!

Sunday, November 27th

...about 7:20 this morning I am hearing something on the Lime Kiln hydrophones that I keep dismissing..."calls...no...calls...no..." they were high pitched and very faint...off in the distance...
...finally at about 7:32 I add the Orca Sound hydrophones and I could hear the same calls more clearly...hum...now the questions began...
...had they been way offshore and are now angling across?...
...had they just been quiet and were now chatting more?...
- I was assuming they were going north -

...when they got louder for me...I took off...in the rain...to try to find them...but I just didn't know which way they might be going...
...I stop at County Park and see a big male off in the distance going NORTH...race back north to my spot and wait...get some pics...a large group heading up island about a 1/2 mile from shore...there is a big male with a heavily leaning dorsal fin...but I didn't stop to try to figure out who was there...I had already heard J, K and L pod calls on the hydrophones...
...my assumptions were taking charge...

...I take some more pictures of this group...lousy lighting...pouring rain...unfamiliar camera...would any of the pics turn out?...just shoot...

...then I see two whales moving rapidly down island...they are about a mile from shore in the edge of the stormy haze...
...the group that was going up island had been taking long dives...and were down...would I wait for them to surface again?...or maybe they already turned and are heading back down island...but from where I was I couldn't tell...dilemma...

...off to Cty Park again...I see one whale way south in the distance, heading away...I can see no whales to the north...I wonder where that large group got to...hum...

...of to Lime Kiln...plasticize myself to stay sorta dry...it's pouring...
Onyx L-87 off in the distance...a female in closer...Suttles J-40 foraging...and it looks like her little brother Se-Yi-Chn J-45 too...
...whales going down Haro Strait about a 1mile from shore...I can hear J and K pod calls while watching them...

...all gone...none to the north, south or west that I can see...home to get dry...
...look at pictures...I wonder who's in that big group... OH, MY, GOODNESS - IT's TRANSIENTS!!!
you'll want to click to enlarge...
...here's what I saw first......then a large male surfaced......there are 5 up in this image......the far left whale from the above image is surfacing more (see below)...and there is one just about to break the surface just to the right of middle (looks more like a log but it's a whale) for #6......as #5 is diving...#6 is up (in the middle) and Mr. Floppy Fin is surfacing (left) to make #7......the next frame show the tip of a baby's fin, surfacing next to mom...to make #8...
...and Mr. Floppy Fin surfaces......and there were a couple sprouters in the mix too- # 9 and 10... (no images shown)
...mom and baby on left and mom on right......same two moms with kids now up......one of the moms and kids up......my guess is that it's the T18s and the T49s...but that's a guess...I have sent the pics to Dave, Center for Whale Research, for his expert eyes to let me know !!

Added 11/28/11: Yes, verified by Dave it is the T18s and the T49s!
For those of you with The Book, take a look on the T18s page and the T49s page and match to some of the similarities in the photos on this post!

That was just way too cool...transients going north totally quiet, while some very chatty Southern Residents were going south...passing each other in Haro Strait...


J pod whales (not all who exactly), some K pod whales (not all who exactly) and Onyx L-87 went down island...did they go out the Strait of Juan de Fuca or might they show up in Puget Sound?...

...so those calls I heard the other morning, November 23rd, hum...now I wonder if they could have been Residents going north...