8/26/2020 You Have to Look In Order to Find

August 23rd - 26th 

There may not have been a lot of activity, but one can always find moments in the day.  Over the last few days...

August 23rd...

August 25th...two whales showed up close to 3/4 of a mile offshore...as they were going by, three more whales showed up very close to shore...of course they dove before getting to the lighthouse and surfaced after...common for Ts to do that...

August 26th...I'm not usually there quite that early, however those two were...

...elephant seals are so interesting to watch, because sometimes you have to wait until they disappear from the surface to know that it really was an elephant seal you were watching.  Today, the water was very calm and maybe it was the early morning lighting...

...and then...

...and to finish off the day...

...a friendly reminder from the Southern Residents...

...and a reminder from others too...

 

8-21-2020 Okay, Ts, the Hydrophones Just Detected You!

August 21st apx 7:15 a.m.

Transients don't vocalize as often as Southern Residents...

...but today they gave themselves away early this morning over the hydrophones!

...now if I hadn't had a heads up from a friend who lives in another country, I certainly would have missed them...so thank you!

..hit the record button and out the door to try to make it...as I got there I could hear their exhales...running, me that is, I could see one and could hear more as they surfaced and breathed...

...as I got to the waters edge they had already gone by...but T019B and most huge/leaning dorsal fin...well, I knew who at least some of who were present...

...had I not 'hit the record button'...I never would have heard:

 ...yep, that's some of them right over the hydrophones, they were that close to shore!  fun stuff!!

...seconds after this there was another of similar sound...the others...

...got into the car and got ahead of them...but by then they were already moving offshore a bit and it wasn't long before they disappeared into the morning fog...

...they were quite distant, so I matched up some of the surfacing sequences...I am sure about the T018s but not sure about the T090s...I haven't seen the T090s in a long while....

...nice surprise plus the added bonus of hearing their 'water disturbance' over the hydrophones too!...first time I have ever documented that!  Fun stuff!!

8-17-2020 Fun Stuff and A Mystery Too

 August 16th....over the last several days...

...J, K and L Pod whales have not been in the inland waters this month (August), yet.  There's still a 1/2 month ahead.  The salmon aren't here either, so I'd really them to be where there is food for them...

...the birds have been interesting...the T10s came by but veered way offshore before entering the Park area...there's always the crows, and this year especially loud - maybe because there aren't as many people, therefore not as much food to steal!

...for maybe about a week now, every evening and sometimes all through the night, on the Lime Kiln hydrophones there has been a sound that 'shows up' and it sounds like something is dragging...like in maybe a cable loose or something...

...but yesterday afternoon I spotted something.  They were and likely still attached to something.

...this was in the bay just to the north of the lighthouse...I hadn't seen them before. Nor had I noticed them before mid-afternoon.  Whatever it was had a lot of kelp around it and moving ever so slowly...of course, the current was in control...

...later I heard that dragging sound...here's a sample...sometimes it would repeat about every 10 seconds and last for hours.  Sometimes it would fade in/fade out over a period of time...hmmm...hope this short clip works...

...I got to the light as fast as I could...I didn't seen anything, but was glad I got there to see that sunset...then I realized that those posts were there and in the picture!

They were no longer in the bay, but out from the bay...no telling where they might or not show up next!

added at 3pm

...I just learned these sounds might be from a (more?) harbor seal(s)...very interesting...

...and now there is still derelict/debris floating out there somewhere that might be being very quiet!