Thursday, January 23rd
…"What is that?" It's a barking California sea lion...running now...to the shoreline hoping to see which way he is going, etc...just cause...
...off in the distance I see him and hear him as he continues down past the south end of the park...
...and then a Steller sea lion surfaces just to the up island side of the lighthouse...
...and a friend also sees a California sea lion in front of the lighthouse!
wild!! ...these two were going down island, but I didn't see the Steller sea lion again...and then I began to wonder if I had...
...well, the answer came a little while later, when a raft of sea lions slowly moved up, close in to the shore...I was stunned!
...how many...was the question...it looked like about 8...but not...and at a general look it looked like California sea lions...
...see how many you can count...how many flippers?...front flippers (the ones 'pointing the way')...and the back flippers (the ones that look like they have toes (well, sort of)...how many heads...
...something I caught on the video, two sea lions doing something together...not sure why they were doing that, but I learned that might not be that uncommon...but what seems uncommon is to see a raft of sea lions (even though a small group), floating up island with the current...
It was a slow motion - wow!
...just before the raft made it to the lighthouse, one of the sea lions reacted to something on the shore...he barked one loud bark and all of them dove quickly...a few minutes later they began to surface...which was nice...to attempt to see age categories...
...here's the Steller sea lion who was in the mix...
...but when I went through the images it looked like there were two Stellers...
...the arrows are point to the four heads of CA sea lions at the surface at the same time...
...and then there was this adult harbor seal who watched the sea lions as they continued on by!
Catching up over the last several days...
J Pod had been north of the Fraser for a few days...
then they came south and were first spotted off Victoria heading west...
and then...and then...
the next day they were in Puget Sound!
...hmmm...were more salmon heading in?...
..and now today (11-24) they are still in Puget Sound...
...sure do wish the water was cleaner down there...
...in the meantime whether from shore on out on the Western Prince, here are a few images...
Those Scratches on the Humpback
...this is BCZ0298 with some unusual 'scratches'
I wonder what it is from?
...fishing gear?
...transient orcas?
...sea lion harassment? (I heard that was going on out in Juan de Fuca)...
...something else?
(note: known as 'Split Fin, BCZ0298 has has had that split dorsal fin for many years.)
...there is a bloody spot in front of the dorsal fin...and there appears to be some kind of 'holes' or something that had...
...no alarm here, just curiosity...
...on another day, and just about everyday for the last several weeks, California sea lions, sometimes one and sometimes three have come by the park...
...one morning I was photographing some Buffleheads, a winter bird, when something caught my eye!
...another day...the blow of a humpback caught my eye, in the early morning...eight minute dives and a challenge to track...that is until it came past the lighthouse :)
I sent this image to researchers, as I hadn't seen this humpback before...MMY0080, which is a temporary ID assignment...
...and then there is the 'daily dependable' -great-blue-heron...
...no Southern Residents...but out on the Western Prince the T18s were spotted in San Juan Channel...we were still at the dock when we saw them passing by the entrance to Friday Harbor!...that was amazing!
...then out on the water we watched them for a while...
...this is my most fun picture of them...silly, but fun...
...the T18s are seen often throughout the year...but of course one never knows when they will appear...or where they will be on any given day...
So, what is unusual looking about this image?
Who is going which direction?
November is not a time for seeing J, K or L Pods...but you just never know...
...always on the lookout...
