Friday, July 31, 2015

7/30-31/15 We Usually See Whales Not a Helicopter

Thursday, July 30th
...this is getting so confusing!
...the K12s were on the west side of the island today with the J11s, J22s, J16s and J17s...
...Granny J-2, Onyx L-87, the J14s, J19s, K13s, and K14s were in Rosario Strait again...all day...

Friday, July 31st
...early in the morning at the park, we are usually looking out toward the middle of the strait or looking at the water...instead today this is what we were looking at and what was looking back at us!
...low flying helicopter?...I would say so!
...Skagit K-13 and her family group went up island in the middle of the day...but wait!...they were with Granny's group yesterday, so where were they today?...they were seen coming down from the Coal Docks!...wow!...so they had gone back up Rosario Strait and into the Strait of Georgia and up toward the Fraser River yesterday...
...out on the Peregrine with Capt. Jim we met the K13s coming up island...a friend of mine has been having a heck of a time locating Cali K-34, so today when I saw Cali as the trailing whale, I made sure my friend had the chance to see Cali...and actually after seeing Cali from the left side, a little while later Cali had moved off shore and surfaced so my friend could see Cali's right side!...that was nice :)
...we left the K13 family group continuing up island and went down island to see who else we might see...the seas were not as nice but we had a few looks at Slick J-16 and family, Oreo J-22 and her two boys, and farther down were Blackberry J-27 and the J-17 family...

...out again at 4:30 we headed up to Boundary Pass where Granny and others were coming down...when we got there the K13s had met up with Granny and the others...they continued their downward trend, looking like they would go to Turn Pt. and then head down Haro Strait...
...as they made the turn Spock K-20 breached multiple times...


...the whales were being very social and all mixed together...




...and then for a few minutes there was some of this...
 ...we left the whales in Haro Strait and headed for the harbor...which gave me plenty of time to go to the park...they wasted no time in getting there...lots of folks were waiting...
...beautiful sunset encounter with the whales...

...they give us the gift of their presence...
...now it's time for us to give them the chance of surviving long into the future...

...call the White House, 9-5 Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, ask the President to use his Executive Order to breach the 4 Lower Snake River Dams, to save the world's largest salmon producing river system, and to save the Southern Resident orcas.

...and email President Obama with your comments.





Wednesday, July 29, 2015

7-29-15 Off to the Park to See What I Could See

Wednesday, July 29th
...almost missed them this morning...I hear one faint blip over the Lime Kiln hydrophones and I know they are at the park...
...by the time I get there a few had gone by...then Spock K-20 and Comet K-38 came along...
...a bit offshore and behind them was Scoter K-25...
...I had missed a few of the whales in the lead and could see a few over a mile offshore, but based on it only being K13 family members, for the time being I would assume it was the 7 members of the that family group...would they come back down in a short while or ???...

...meantime someone spotted a humpback whale on the west side...
...someone else encountered other Southern Residents off of Lopez Island...so maybe they didn't go up island last night?...and later others were seen going north in Rosario Strait...
...out on the Peregrine for an afternoon trip with Capt. David at the helm, we head down island...whales were spread for miles off the lower west side...
...we saw all three of the members of the 'Cookie' family...

...all of Slick J-16's family...

...and some of Sequim K-12's family...
...Tika K-33 was doing inverted tail lobs...


...for one of the passengers it was a special treat to see the lighthouse from the water...first time ever and she's lived here quite a while...this is DoubleStuf J-34 off the light...also farther down island were the J17s and the J11s...
...after getting home I heard echolocation clicks over the Lime Kiln hydrophones and could see a couple of the J16s not too far away, so off to the park to see what I could see...
...Mike J-26 had been in the research study area for two hours by the time I got there, and he was there another hour...

...then Slick J-16, J-50, and Echo J-42 came into the study area from the north and spent close to an hour before they went down island in the direction of Mike J-26...
...after coming back down closer to the lighthouse, Slick and J-50 turned and moved up island a short distance...
...Echo J-42, who had been up island from the lighthouse, was taking long dives...and surprised us...(Alki J-36 and baby J-52 were down island at this point)...

...many folks who were there hadn't ever seen an orca in the wild before...that's part of the specialness of it all, listening and watching as people's hearts are touched by these whales...
...no one can really explain it, it just happens, and it's pure magic!...(even for those of us who see them all the time, the magic never goes away)

...to ensure that more people have these magical experiences in years to come please call the White House Monday- through Friday, 9-5 Pacific Time, 202-456-1111, and tell the person on the other end of the line that your message is to ask President Obama to issue an Executive Order to Breach the Four Lower Snake River Dams to save the salmon, and the Southern Resident Community of Orcas.
And call everyday! It doesn't matter what phone you use, just call everydayYou can have Saturday and Sunday off...:) 

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

7-28-15 It Was A Four Chapter Day

Tuesday, July 28th  
First:  Have you made your phone call to the White House today?  202-456-1111  Ask him to breach the 4 lower Snake River Dams, save the world's greatest salmon producing river system, save the Southern Resident Orcas, save the Snake/Columbia River salmon, and save taxpayers millions of dollars.  If you already called, call again!!  Refer to the previous post for more info.

If the salmon are not saved and we lose the Southern Resident killer whales there won't be anymore encounters at all...just think of that...horrible...

Chapter 1 
...today provided an interesting peek into the lives of the whales...
...first Granny J-2, Lea K-14, J16s, the K13s, the K12s, and the K14s came up island passing the lighthouse early this morning...but they didn't come up in exactly that order...and that grouping was quite unusual...
..where were the J14s, part of Granny's group, who are always with her?...that was my first question...
...the whales were going against an oncoming current, so they were moving slowly...

...Sequim K-12 and Saturna K-43 her youngest, came along...
 



...I began looking for Rainshadow K-37...but I could not find him...at least not yet...I could see a couple whales in the distance still coming up...Sequim had passed the lighthouse, getting to the point north and then she turned, came back to just north of the lighthouse and logged for about a minute...
...she was then down for at least three minutes...then she began a repetitive call...it was clear that she was making that call as there were no other whales in front of or near the lighthouse (the call was loud).
For several minutes she slowly moved down island...Sekiu K-22 and Tika K-33 were approaching...
...and then Rainshadow K-37 came into view...he was traveling with Kelp K-42...Sequim's repetitive call stopped...and on the next surfacing mom and son were traveling up island together...

...then the two moms and their boys surfaced together...

...by the way Sekiu is Sequim's daughter and Tika her grandson...this stuff happens all the time out there, we just don't get to see it that often...those whales continued up island...it was now just shortly after 9 a.m....


Chapter 2
10:40 a.m. they turn around and are coming back down...
...now I would have a chance to confirm who was present when they went up...or at least I hoped I would be able to...
Slick J-16 and family came by first...they were some of the first to go up and now are way ahead of the others who are coming down...
...they were going with the current, passing by very quickly...
...no J14s in the group, no L-87 in the group...they must be down island somewhere...

Chapter 3
12:45 up island they came, in one large group...all of J pod, Onyx L-87, the K12s, K13s, and the K14s...
...they turned around right in front of the lighthouse and went back down...Granny J-2 was in the lead with Onyx L-87 and the J14s...


...and the rest of them followed...

Chapter 4 the last chapter of this day...
...late in the afternoon the J22s came up island, spread far and wide...now that's only 3 whales...Oreo J-22 and DoubleStuf J-34 were at times close together, but Cookie J-38 was a mile or more off shore from them...for about 45 minutes they were heard echolocating over the Lime Kiln hydrophones, and only a couple calls later during this encounter...they were taking long dives...one dive lasted five minutes, DoubleStuf surfacing in just about the same place he had gone down...
...eventually they moved slowly back down island...

...to wrap up the day...calls from J, K, and an L pod call (assuming Onyx L-87)...came over the Lime Kiln hydrophones starting at about 10:15pm...
...I heard their calls for over an hour...but could not come to any conclusion as to which way they might have gone...I would imagine it would be in the direction of where they might find food.

7-28-15 Call To Action -Updated

Your phone calls to Obama are needed to let him know people care and support this effort.  Call now.  Tell everyone you know to call! And call EVERYDAY!


Live outside the U.S. and want to show your support:  contact the President via  www.whitehouse.gov/contact


~~~~~~~

7-28 - just in from SaveOurWildSalmon

"It’s time for real action to save wild Snake River salmon, not more ineffective half-measures that have proven illegal, inadequate and indefensibly expensive.  It’s time to save salmon and money by removing these four high-cost low-value dams. 

Please contact President Obama today – with an email and a phone call. Urge him to remove the 4 lower Snake River dams to save the longest and highest migrating salmon on the planet, iconic orcas, and taxpayer dollars.

CALL (202-456-1111) and WRITE the President today! Thank you.

We deeply appreciate your support - we can't do it without you!

Joseph, Sam and the SOS Team"

Saturday, July 25, 2015

July 19 to 25-2015 Up And Down So Many Times


July 19th through morning of July 25th

...some bits and pieces from all this activity:

July 19th Granny J-2, Onyx L-87, the J14s, K14s, and the K13s went up but the J19s stayed down island with the rest of J pod...Cookie J-38 went up island with Granny...
...the J14s and the K14s were goofing around...even Lobo surfaced in the middle of them at one point...
...they came back down...only to go up island a while later...great shot from Peregrine of Granny passing through traffic...
July 20th the same group as yesterday came down island...


...by late in the day whales went up island...
...K pod calls were heard over Lime Kiln and Orca Sound hydrophones and a few minutes after, a couple faint J Pod calls came over the Lime Kiln hydrophones but that was all...that left a ? as to where J pod had gone...

July 21st whales were coming down from the north...out on Peregrine I only spotted the K13s...it was a while later when Granny J-2, Onyx, the J14s, and the K14s showed up many miles south near Partridge Bank...and they eventually all went up island again...

July 22nd...Granny, Onyx, the J14s and the K14s came down island way ahead of the K13s...





...July 23rd...some Js, Ks and Ls went up island...
...and four changed direction at Open Bay and started to come back down...(thanks Capt. Jim for the call on that one!)...it was the J22s - aka the Cookies - Oreo, DoubleStuf, and Cookie who came back down and with them was Mako J-39!

...The Cookies stayed down with others...but who? I wasn't sure...early in the morning of the 24th, alerted by a friend, I made it to Land Bank...the whales made it up to the park and turned and came back down...I was lucky to have seen them!...it was actually Group B all together!- what a concept!

...just after the whales went down island this bald eagle passed by going north...standing at Land Bank the eagle was below me...
...mid morning others were coming down...two groups about 45 minutes apart...
...this time it was all of Group A (including the J16s) and the K14s...
...when the second group was approaching...well, we knew who it 'had' to be...the rest of K pod and the 19 L pod whales-note added: wondering if the L47s are in here or not - two passes at the lighthouse and not one of them seen-hummm...I only got a glimpse of Cappuccino K-21 but he was here...the rain was starting, making things difficult...oh, but the rain is so needed it is a good thing.
...the K13s with some L pod whales mixed in...Crewser and others were far off shore...


...Sekiu K-22 surfacing with no others...Racer L-72 not too far behind her, also surfacing with no others...but their boys were traveling together behind their moms!
...they were all now down south of the island and came back up slowly...waiting for the rain to come down...at least when they were passing the park it poured!
...all went up toward the Fraser River later in the day on the 24th...
which means they'll be coming back down...at some point!