12-24-16 Merry Christmas Eve From the Whales

Saturday, December 24th
...transient orcas were seen not too far distant and then they decided to come up the west side of San Juan Island...
...it was the T19s...I only saw T19, T19B and T19C...
...their blows were stunning to see...

...they were slowly moving up island...and just down from the park they dove and didn't surface until a good distance north of the lighthouse...and it looked like, from their behavior, they appeared to be after a harbor seal which gave the opportunity to get a couple different angles

...then up to County Park as they continued up island...

...home to listen to the Orca Sound hydrophones...and soon I heard them vocalizing as they continued north...those calls began at about 2:25pm and continued intermittently for about 20 minutes.
...then I heard them over the Lime Kiln hydrophones - very faint and brief...I figured they were on the far side of Haro Strait...there are a couple areas there that the Orca Sound hydrophones don't picks up calls but Lime Kiln will...
...then it was quiet of calls...

...now for the Merry Christmas Eve From the Whales...
...looking at the images of the Ts...with the hydrophones streaming in the background...didn't figure I would hear the Ts again...
...and then...and then..."Oh, my, it's Residents!"
...I don't know who else but I know I needed that today...I don't think they had been seen by anyone today, but here they were and they were on the Lime Kiln hydrophones for close to 2 hours...faint K Pod calls had started at 4:10 pm and then J pod calls soon started...they got a bit louder...so off I went in search of them, but there wasn't much daylight left...never did see them but when I got back home they were still vocalizing over the hydrophones.

Yes, Merry Christmas from the whales it was.