8-2-14 The Whales Make Their Own Fireworks!

Saturday, August 2nd
...well the 17 Residents who were here yesterday are gone today...so off we went to see the group of Ts (transients/Bigg's/marine mammal eating) killer whales the T34s and the T37s who have been spending a lot of time in one area over the last few days...
...they were in three groups...and spread for a mile or more...just meandering about...
...then T37, T34 and T334A got wild for a few minutes - it was like fireworks...

...I don't know what the others were doing...but it made me think they were letting the others know they weren't interested in 'company' at the moment...because the others who had been coming toward them changed their direction...of course all three of these little groups were changing their directions a lot anyway...

...the second trip on Maya's Westside Charters our encounter was a bit different...this time they were all together...love it when they are like this...

...T34 T34A, T37, T37A, T37A2, T37A3, T37B and T37B1...

...between trips we learn that the Residents are coming back in...they got to Haro Strait late in the day...and they came through Baynes Channel - between the bottom of Vancouver Island and Chatham Island...they don't do that very often, but when they do they will often go north...
...I watched them cross and get to County Park where some kayakers were there waiting for someone to pass by them...looks like someone did...

...it was interesting because about an hour after they were gone from my view and past the Orca Sound hydrophones, I began hearing echolocation clicks on the Lime Kiln hydrophones...and then a few calls...but that was all...had some stayed down and gone down island or had they passed by the Orca Sound hydrophones quietly?
...I began hearing some strange noises outside and though I knew it wasn't whales my curiosity got the best of me...that's those fireworks at the end of the video clip!