4-8-15 Taking Their Time Wherever They Went

Tuesday and Wednesday, April 7-8th 

Tuesday, April 7th
...8:00 a.m. - 'click-click-click' came over the Orca Sound hydrophones loud and clear - whales!
...Lime Kiln hydrophones had been down since 11:30 last night, so who was here and which way did they come from?!
...they were Residents because transients don't echolocate like that...off to County Park...there!...in the distance to the north one adult male...looked like Mike J-26, but so far away...he was foraging like Mike does...so where were the rest?
...it wasn't long before it was known that only the J16s were here...they are an independent group and many times have gone off on their own...
...they didn't get too far north before the flipped and came back down island, passing the lighthouse...

...I thought they might go to Grandma's Cove at American Camp...if you know where I'm talking about you know the exercise I got just getting there and back to the car...and then back to the park because the whales flipped direction again!

...Mike J-26 and his mom, Slick J-16, were in the lead as they came by the lighthouse...way behind them were Alki J-36, Echo J-42, and the two babies...today it looked like Echo had the job of keeping tabs on J-50! (Suttles J-40 seemed to have that job on March 30th)...then just shortly past the lighthouse Mike and Slick, who had been doing some foraging, slowed down and the others caught up and they continued slowly up island...
...then I went up island and watched as they went by...they went on the inside of Low Island (that's the small island just off County Park)...they don't do that very often...

Wednesday, April 8th
...out on Maya's Westside Charters we head north after hearing a report of a few whales...on the way I spotted some blows - it's always exciting to find whales where you don't expect to!...it was the J16s!...
...different day, same 'stuff'...
...Mike J-26 was foraging, sometimes he was a half mile away from the rest...
...Slick J-16 was with baby J-50...
...and for a while we couldn't find Alki J-36, Echo J-42 or new baby J-52...
...then 'out of nowhere' they surfaced, and taking long dives...
...Residents acting more like transients than Residents...

...they were just hanging out...not going anywhere...

...I learned later that the J16s spent the day in that area...
...with two little ones...and some food in the area...they didn't have to go anywhere...just stay, rest, relax and be whales...

...we stayed a short while and then went to see some transients who were acting more like Residents than transients, and boy were they goofing around! ...that will be the next post...