11-23-18 Chum Salmon-Fish Sounds-SRKWs Were in PS

Monday, October 23th
...early in November it was surprising to hear lots of 'fish sounds' over the Lime Kiln hydrophones, since there just haven't been much of any of those sounds for a long, long time they really got my attention...
...so when they all-of-a-sudden began and continued - okay, something had changed...
...though I don't know exactly which fish species is making those 'burp' sounds...I know there is a relationship between those sounds and the SRKWs showing up because it has occurred many times in the past...it's not harbor seals as some say (they sound completely different)...it's fish, but is it fish that are moving ahead of the fish that the whales eat? ...don't know...but I do know there is a relationship sounds-to-SRKWs appearing...
...it wasn't long before I learned that J Pod had shown up in Puget Sound...normal at this time of year but with so many challenges it was unknown as to what/if any the chum salmon return would be...

...I wondered if K Pod (some? all?) had been there too...there was some great video done by two different news stations, from their helicopters, and it looked like there were a couple open saddle patches that belonged to K Pod whales...but not being there, I could only wonder...
...K Pod whales did eventually show up...
...the whales were in Puget Sound for many days...
...K Pod left a day before J Pod left...they appeared to all be heading back out toward sea, but maybe not :)

...their length of stay is an indicator that the chum salmon were abundant...abundant enough for the whales to not need to go searching great distances for a meal...glad for them to have food, at least for a few weeks...
...not sustainable for the long term though...

...this male California sea lion certainly got a big salmon at Cattle Pass...

...the above was taken on November 8th...the Js and sometimes Ks came and went a few times...down into Puget Sound...

...early morning about 05:30 on November 22nd I heard two very faint calls and that was all...the first call sounded like a Resident but the second sounded more like a Transient - so much for that!  Later I heard from a friend on the west side that they had heard whales exhaling a bit earlier than when I heard those extreme faint calls...but there was no way of telling, who, what, or where!

Keeps one listening for more information!

There have been a few humpbacks seen in Haro Strait in the last few days but no singing males over the hydrophones...maybe another few chances of hearing one before they all depart for their winter places...
 

10-28-17 Going Off Island Guarantees Whales!

Saturday, October 28th

...ha-ha-ha...yes, I rarely go off island and only if I absolutely must...one time I left the island only 1 time over a 7 year period!
...October 24th - this time I had to go off due to a transmission issue with my car...made the ferry reservation - 5:45a.m. which meant I needed to be there by 5:00a.m.
...I was worried about not waking up to the alarms (yes, multiple) I had set...
...BUT I didn't need to worry because the whales woke me up a little bit before 2 a.m.!  
...I heard calls for only 2 minutes...several of what sounded like K Pod calls, one Onyx call, and one L Pod up-tick call...but the absence of J Pod calls had me curious...for the next 2 & 1/2 hours I listened and not a vocalization of any kind...
...I had to leave for the ferry...
...I sent to the Center of Whale Research what I had heard and out the door I went...

...off island...waiting...
...for the 2:40 ferry to come back to the island...I learn that the L54 group - ah-ha! - those were the ones making the K calls - yep, they have a history of doing that...anyway, the L54s had been a good ways north, behind J Pod...they had flipped and were coming back down...
...oh, no!...would I make it to the west side before them!  
...on the ferry...I find out the L54s are still far north...but I went to County Park to just sit, after a stressful day...no whales just peaceful...

...that evening I looked at what I had recorded while I was off island and wouldn't you know, 20 minutes after I had left the house for the ferry, the whale began vocalizing - for the next 2 1/2 hours!...and there were the J pod calls...and at the end of them were the L54 group (based on what I was hearing)...so I figured that what I heard at 2:00 am. was them coming across from Discovery...and the 2 1/2 hours of calls they were coming up the west side.

...the next day I learn the L54s were the last to go north and they were 'outside the door' foraging - geesh!...now I know why I don't like to go off island, the whales must know HA!

...well, it was at 5:45 a.m. on the 25th that the L54 group made it to the Lime Kiln hydrophone range...but it was dark, so, so much for that!
...that afternoon a whale watch boat saw the L54 group off the southern part of the island...
...that night at about 11pm a friend heard a few blows, but couldn't be sure if it was orcas or not...hummmm.

...nothing...nothing...nothing...
...then late in the day on Oct 27th, a Canadian whale watch company, way north, somewhere near the Campbell River 'ran into' J Pod (and maybe the L54s?) on their way home.  So sweet!! 

I haven't seen any of the SRKWs in many days...one of the most fun things I saw from these days of wandering around - on island - is this...

11/17-18/14 Vocal J Pod, Humpback, and Barking Sea Lion

Monday, November 17th
...at about 2 a.m. Transient calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophones...only for a few minutes and very distant...

...two nights ago at about 11pm I heard K pod calls...not sure about Ls or Js...but I didn't know a direction...so when I heard, via the grapevine, that Simon of Ocean Ecoventures got word that lots of whales had exited Active Pass going north yesterday morning (11/16)...well, that must have been them...but it was still a mystery as to who and where...
...then at 8:45 a.m. this morning (11/17), I'm talking to Ivan of the Western Prince who is telling me that Traci saw Residents at Turn Pt. and they were heading down...oh, goodie..."wait, I hear calls right now, but they are faint!"...so some were coming from the north...but were there others to the south?...throw on the winter clothes, watch the icy roads and get to the park to go find out...
...all I did was wait and wait but no whales in sight...then my phone rang and I was soon on the Center for Whale Research boat, Chimo, with Dave Ellifrit...we knew that whales were spread out...but that far?!
...one here, one there...they would surface once and be gone...who was present?...
...the first whale we saw was Onyx L-87 - ATTENTION PLEASE! - he is the one who travels with J pod and mainly Group A of J pod...so we started to look for the J pod whales...nope...not over there, or over there...
...by the end of the time with the whales we knew that we had not seen any J pod whales and at that time we didn't know of anyone else who had either...later I learned that both Traci and Monika had gotten a picture of Granny J-2!  what?...wild!...she and Onyx L-87...no other J pod whales were seen at all by anyone! - I think!
...click here for the Encounter page on the Center for Whale Research site for the write up by Dave and some of our pictures from the encounter...this encounter may not be posted just yet, but you can check CWR's encounter page... (11/18) Tuesday, 3 a.m. J pod calls loud and clear on Orca Sound hydrophones....
they were there for a while and then stopped...
...after re-listening to the recording I heard faint J pod calls behind some loud ship noise...
...then at 4:10 a.m. they started up again on the Orca Sound hydrophones again...
...and they had an accompaniment - a humpback whale!!!

...two hours later there was a strange sound...a barking California sea lion! - barking under the surface...

both were over the Orca Sound hydrophones...that was at about 6 a.m.
...it's pretty wild out there...

...I spotted the humpback whale from shore at about 8 a.m.
...at about 10 a.m. five California sea lions swam by in front of my place...
...but no killer whales did I see today!

9-6-14 All Three Pods Returned - Plus ONE!

Saturday, September 6th
...with great anticipation I hoped to hear the vocalizations of the Residents on the hydrophones during the night...but all was quiet...
...that didn't mean they weren't here...
...because here came Granny J-2 leading the way...it was about 8 a.m.

...Slick J-16 was traveling near Granny...Mike J-26 was in the mix...

...then came (in no special order) Onyx L-87, Alki J-36, Shachi J-19, Eclipse J-41, the J14s...but Echo J-42 was nowhere to be seen......it took close to two hours before Group A passed by Lime Kiln lighthouse...and Echo still wasn't there...

...it was not only a busy morning watching the water for the whales...a California sea lion came by - whale watching too it appeared - probably for his safety...

...a Kingfisher...

...and then some mergansers too...

...off in the distance, down island, we could see more blows...okay, who could this be?...

...Princess Angeline J-17, Moby J-44, Tahlequah J-35, Notch J-47, Rhapsody J-32, Echo J-42, and Mako J-39 - until he changed direction and moved on out to be with his brother Blackberry J-27 and sister Tsuchi J-31...behind them came Polaris J-28 and Star J-46...
...on up island they went...there were a few whales really far offshore...not sure who...but it looked like we had just about all of J pod going north...



...out on Maya's Westside Charters...we traveled with the whales until Turn Pt. lighthouse...I know Capt. Jim has been wanting a breach in front of Turn Pt. lighthouse...he got it today, thanks to Shachi J-19...I was almost too late but managed to get her as she was just coming down for the landing...

...this next part of the day is rather comical I think...we went into Roche Harbor for fuel and came down Mosquito Pass, which is on the east side of Henry Island...at that same time K pod was going up Haro Strait off the west side of Henry Island!...we had no idea we had completely missed K pod (except for K-21, K-16, and K-35)...
...but things always work out, because if we had known that K pod was so close we would have gone with them...instead we went down island to see the L pod whales...
...that's where the Plus ONE comes in...

...It is 2 years and one month since the last surviving baby was born into the Southern Resident Community. It's not only time to celebrate but maybe it's time to re-look at what needs to be done for this population to survive and grow again. We certainly need more than just hope.

04-25-14 Painted Feet and Leaping Sea Lions

Friday, April 25th
...I stopped to do a quick scan...well, that was lucky!

...I watched the minke for about a half hour before leaving for a trip on Maya's Westside Charters...
...we looked, as others did, but the minke was not seen again...if you know minkes that's what they do...
...over at Kelp Reef is where we will often at this time of year, find Steller sea lions hauled out...check out the video clip of the Steller leaping up on to the marker...
...no leaping today, but I noticed something on the flippers of one...

...I know there had been work going on at the marker not long ago...I've not ever seen flippers looking like they had nail polished 'toes'...
...no whales today, but if there had been we might not have been so lucky as to come across what we did at Green Pt....not only were there Steller sea lions in the water but they had friends - several of them!...all males...
...over the last few days we had seen one California sea lion intermingling with the Stellers at this same place...what surprised us was that number increased today...

...a male Steller sea lion can be more than twice the weight of a Calif. sea lion...

...with less weight they can surprise you much more quickly! 

...four California sea lions, plus at least two others who were with the Stellers...then I learn from a friend who was a Whale Rocks looking at four California sea lions at the same time we were looking at these...

...last November I posted - sea lions and sail boats - during the Round the County sailboat race, standing along the shore at Lime Kiln there were 5 California sea lions were traveling down island just ahead of over 100 sailboats...
...California sea lions are commonly seen in areas surrounding the San Juans, such as Race Rocks in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Bell Chain islands in the Strait of Georgia...it just hasn't been common to see them closer to home...

So many things have been different already this year. 

It's intriguing.

It's concerning.