6-29-13 "J Pod Are You Here?"

Saturday, June 29th
...it began a little after 4:00 a.m. they woke me up on the Orca Sound hydrophones...a short while later I stepped out the door and could hear their blows as the came back down island...

...yesterday all the L pod whales were here except the L12s...so today when I was at the park and the whales were approaching, I was assuming it was L pod...but when I heard distinct J pod signature calls I was shocked!...was J pod here?

NOTE: the audio clip was recorded from the radio at the park (88.1fm) to my mp3 player.  The playback is a bit rough, but the 'downward end' of each of the calls is what made me think these are J pod calls.


...the leading whale was Lulu L-53...

...and then Ophelia L-27...

...in shore and behind them were many others...
...Nyssa L-84 - draped in kelp...

...Ino L-54 and her youngest Keta L-117...

...what a surprise when Mega L-41 surfaced (his group was not seen by anyone yesterday) with Wave Walker L-88...

...right in the beginning, as the whales were approaching, were the 3 distinct sounding J pod calls - huh?...what?...those calls came from some L pod whales, because no J pod whales were present...I've heard K pod mimic calls from Ls before, but this is the first time I have heard J pod mimic calls done by L pod whales...this is exciting!!!
...I think (and it's just my opinion) someone was calling to find out if J pod was here - during the time the whales were in vocal range on either LK or OS hps many of us were 'tuned in' to listen for that call again, but we didn't hear it again...
...these calls were also recorded on the automatic recording from the hydrophone system and were verified by Breanna - thanks!

...some of the kids were very playful...Fluke L-105, Pooka L-106 here...

...Keta L-117 surprised me, but I got 'a bit' of his/her action!

...then mom, Ino L-54 and Keta, when they surfaced past me...

...some had passed by...get ready, more are coming!

...Mystic L-115 was back traveling with his mom, Marina L-47, and his aunt Muncher L-91...

...yesterday Mystic was with Nigel L-95 and today as they went up island, Nigel was in that group that was farther offshore...with him was Keta's brother, Indigo L-100 as well as the L22s, and Mystic's sister Moonlight L-83 and her boy Midnight L-110, probably others too...the whales were in very mixed groups!

...they all went up and a little while later they all came back...

...when they came back down island, Mystery L-85 was the lead whale of those who came in closer to shore...

...behind him and a bit farther offshore were Matia L-77 and baby L-119...

...others were far offshore...the last group to pass a bit closer to the shore had put on the speed...

...as the last group came along I noticed a small sport boat with two people in it...they zoomed at high speed past the whales - evidently they hadn't read the guidelines for boating around whales...

...but they just wanted their pictures...and they got them...and they could have gotten them by driving a bit slower...please, when out there treat these 'humans of the sea' with the common courtesy...it's that simple...
...Mega L-41 along with Kasatka L-82, Ocean Sun L-25, and others came past the lighthouse and headed down island...

...all that and it was only 2:00!...

...by the late afternoon out on Maya's Westside Charters we went down island to see the whales...it was surprising to me that they hadn't gone west again, and we were glad they had stayed a while longer...
...to be continued in the next post...just too many images to share - it was very unusual and totally awesome day...