5-21-2021 Taking A Look Back

Taking a look back...a memory image of Granny J-2.

There are so many who have wonderful memories of Granny.  Think about them and I bet you will find a smile on your face.

And something interesting to consider.  Back in 2009 I don't think there were drone studies on the whales. So here's something to consider.  I don't know when/if anyone knew at any time between May 2008 and Feb 2009 that Samish J-14 was pregnant.  Maybe, maybe not. Maybe this is something to remember...note that on the image it says 'it was NOT KNOWN at the time' but maybe it was, I just didn't know :)

Special Thank You, to Capt. Jim & his boat, Peregrine, for that wild day!

...Okay, the last of the Juncos...for a while...

Two days ago I heard a sound that stopped me...it was the newly hatched chicks...they don't sound like chirping birds but more like clicks and as one friend put it...baby birds echolocating!!

Turn Up the Volume

...and the feeding frenzy is underway...

...back to orcas...

...looking at the image on the left - coming towards you, the hook at the top of his dorsal fin is about the only piece of information as to who it might be.  If that was your only image it might be challenging to identify who it was, other than knowing it was a Transient (Bigg's). 

But if you got the opportunity to get another image from a different angle - you just got a flood of information. Chainsaw T063. Here he is from the profile:

...notice too how far forward his saddle patch is...SRKWs are not like that...

This image is from 2016

5-19-2021 Continuing the Saga of Mama Junco

5-19-2021

No SRKWs...still gone out to sea...

In the meantime there has been a little bird keeping my interest level and curiosity up.  (you may have seen a couple previous posts about the little Junco)...

today was interesting...

...the babies must be hatching!

...hope the new J Pod babies and the new L Pod baby are doing well. 

...one day...soon...we hope they will return...BUT there needs to be salmon in here for the whales to come in...

...one day soon...

5-15-2021 Bird Watching While Waiting for the T123s

Few whales and fun birds in the last several days.

While waiting to see what the T123s would do, there were several birds that got my attention.

Sharing food? or ??

Kingfisher - fast and successful

and then...

 ...the whales were not close, as you can see, and moved out of view...the birds had quieted down...so...back home I got lucky to find mama Junco in the tree near her nest.  No peeping babies do I hear yet...but maybe soon.

May 14th...a humpback went by...too cool...on one surfacing the exhale was quite forceful and then when I looked at my images later I saw something, nothing fancy but do you see it in the 2nd image?

...the mama Junco was quite calm today. She is often irritated when I am near, but the front door is just about 6' away! She was preening and was very calm and not bothered with me taking lots of images.  

When I saw this image I began to wonder, "do the orcas ever itch and if they do might some of those scratch marks be from another one scratching an itch?  I may begin to look at scratches differently now!

5-9-2021 Transient Vocals AGAIN in the Early Hours

Sunday, May 9th

Transient vocals and...in the wee hours of this morning!

The calls didn't last as long as yesterday's, but this time there were some percussives and what sounded like 'buzzing bees' aka high-speed click trains.

Percussives and high-speed click trains translated...could be they were making a kill.

Here's a sample from this morning's audio encounter!  

5-8-2021 Transient Vocals in the Night

early hours of May 8...

Transient vocals and loud too.

There were some calls I haven't heard before. 

Seemed like there might have been many Ts, solely based on the length of time, over an hour from first hearing them faintly, to increasing in volume, and then fading off.

The loud calls lasted quite a while and it sounded like they were on something, like a sea lion...

Here's a sample:

 

5-7-2021 Transients - the T123s today

Friday, May 7th

Interesting watching the T123s today.  As they came up San Juan Channel it took a while to locate where they were.  There were several boats in the channel and they were spread out.  It almost seemed as if they weren't too sure where this group of four were.  It took a while to locate them...but T123A has a large presence, so that helped.

After seeing their location I continued to watch...and watch...and watch...but they were not surfacing...and they didn't surface until they were past where I and a couple others were...it was one of the longest down times I've seen...I'd estimate close to 15 minutes.

5-5-2021 A Reminder from the SRKWs

 This is from 2018.  

The SRKWs are not here today.  They haven't been seen since April 10, 2021.

...sort of unusual for me because I'm usually out and about looking for the SRKWs...

...so on a different topic...

5-3-2021 Fun with Photo Captions

 Having some fun adding captions to images

And one more from the sky...no caption, but what do you see?

I see a laughing dolphin...then again it's been a strange year!