9-22-15 Glad to Know the Little Tyke Has Made It One More Day

Tuesday, September 22nd
...yesterday morning about 9 a.m. I heard a 'squiggle' over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...of course I got to the park but there was nothing...hummm...
...so this morning at about the same time I heard a 'squiggle'...thinking now that it must be from a sport fishing boat or something...but about 10 minutes later I heard it again...I started to get my shoes on and get ready...just in case...
...and then a third!...and the phone rang!..."lots of whales" I heard over the phone...it really was the Residents I was hearing!...
...as seems to be 'normal' for this year is the huge spread of the whales...as they came across Haro Strait some angled up island and others down island...but once again the question was: Would the up island whales continue up and pass the park?...
...and soon it began, a pass by that lasted just about all day long...

Samish J-14, Se-Yi-chn J-45, Suttles J-40, and Kelp K-42...

...at one point a Steller sea lion was going up island...and a while later a California sea lion was going down island...
...J and K pods went up island, from 10 a.m to 12:30...and they were continuing up...
...then there was a pause...and a California sea lion appeared in the middle of a flock of waiting birds and got a fish!

...forty-five minutes later L pod whales came up island...that lasted until about 3pm...Crewser L-92 was behind a whale...my instinct told me to watch up ahead for mom and the baby...I got lucky...

...when this group passed by, if you were only listening to the hydrophones you would not have known that whales were at the park...silence!

...up to County Park to watch, because I wasn't convinced that the L pod whales would continue north...there was a California sea lion hauled out on Low Island!
...I'm used to harbor seals not sea lions at that location...

...the whales of L Pod flipped and started to come back down island...

...they passed by Lime Kiln quickly this time...a friend had requested that they come down grouped up and not so spread out...they must have heard her!
...they came by in groups and came by quickly...20 minutes and gone they were!

...I did see some members of all the family groups in J pod, K pod and some members of the L26s, L4s, L43s, and L47s - including the newest baby L-122 way off in the distance...

...and when they came down new mom Muncher L-91 was with two others and they were in somewhat close...baby must have been on the outside...I got a glimpse of L-122 after they passed the sun glare, but didn't get an image...just glad to know the little tyke has made it one more day.