12-30-11 One Last Time for 2011?

Friday, December 30th

...my how time flies!...it's been since the 19th that whales have been seen or heard...
...this morning that changed...
...it was 10:26 when I heard 'something' - oh, my it's J pod!! gee, it had been so long...

...they 'showed up' abruptly on the Lime Kiln hydrophones and their calls were very clear...their volume indicated they were probably at least a 1/2 mile or more off shore...

...and just as abruptly (or so it seemed) their calls stopped...they lasted 1 minute and 45 seconds! (I should say the clip is that long. The calls were actually about another 30 seconds.)



...with the Orca Sound hps being down - most likely from all the storms, there was no way to tell which way they were going...I scanned, but with the seas being so nasty I doubt I would have seen them...

...listening to the recording again I heard J pod, a couple L pod calls (maybe Onyx L-87), and what sounded like a couple faint K pod calls...

...I learned several hours later that 45 minutes after I had heard them, they were north of me heading north...
...now we have their return to look forward to!...that is if they come back down this way...

...last year on January 3rd, J and K pods and Onyx came in and went north...they came back down four days later...

...we'll have to wait and hopefully see them when they do come back down - in the daylight and with calm seas maybe??