12-30-14 Blackberry J-27 the Main Focus Today

Tuesday, December 30th
...the last few days - when J pod came out of Puget Sound on the 28th, Blackberry had something on him, a satellite tag...but at that time I didn't know...I heard them faintly over the Lime Kiln hydrophones after 10 pm...but instead of them going out toward the open ocean, they went north...but I didn't know that until they showed up in Spieden Channel today...
...there is a tracking device page to see where he has traveled...

...it's salmon the whales need...if you haven't signed the petition to raise awareness to get some action done to remove dams on the Snake River - see upper right corner on this blog for a link to the Southern Resident Killer Whale Salmon Initiative and read the petition and consider signing it...
...also if you live in Puget Sound and like to be outside and work with your hands check out Whale Scout...that group is doing good work in different areas in Puget Sound to improve the habitat for salmon...


...so let's move on to Blackberry, as he is the main focus today...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters, what a surprise it was to get a call, before the trip, that whales were in Spieden Channel...evidently before we had gotten on scene there had only been four whales seen, Granny J-2 and Oreo J-22 and her two boys...
...by the time we got to the area where they had been, it took a short while before seeing a whale and that first whale was Blackberry J-27...

...a close up of his satellite tag...

...another angle...

...the whales were spread way out in ones and twos...taking long dives...Onyx L-87 will often travel off by himself, but I don't think that is very common with Blackberry J-27...but then again just about everyone was way spread out...

...we had only seen Blackberry until one of the passengers, who is the 'lookout' when they go hunting, and boy does she have the eye!...no binos either...she spotted a whale over a mile in the distance...then a few others appeared off in the distance too...that was Granny J-2 and the J22s...

...we heard there were others to the north who were coming down toward Turn Pt., but they were too far for us to even see...and the ones we were with were heading up island toward Turn Pt...

...the whales continued up and into Swanson Channel...eventually we did see some members of the family groups in J pod, not sure about the J14s though, and we didn't see the J16s, BUT we heard that way up in front is where the J16s were and traveling next to Slick J-16 was a new baby, designated by the Center for Whale Research as J-50!
...we hope to see that baby in the near future...hope is all we can do at this point - hope that this baby survives...
...in the middle of waiting for the whales to surface from their long dives, a bald eagle and the moon gave a great opportunity shot...

...a little while later over by Turn Pt...

...so J pod headed north...tomorrow is another day predicted to be cold but sunny...maybe J pod will show up again...