4-6-16 Transients and Residents in the Same Neighborhood

Wednesday, April 6th
...the J17s and J22s have not been seen since Saturday afternoon and it would be interesting to see where they showed up next...
...by mid morning there was a report of a small group of whales up north, near Active Pass. ah-ha!...maybe that was the J17s and the J22s...but then it got confusing...soon after a large group of Transients were added to whales in that same general vicinity...
...by afternoon, out on Peregrine with Capt. Jim, we headed up that way...and we arrived just at the right time...
...there were several groups of Ts, check the Center for Whale Research's encounter summary from this date, for all who were there...I did see the T137s, T99s, T36As, yet there were some others present too...
...a few highlights...
...Steller sea lions can weigh 2,000 lbs or more...not sure on the size of this one...Simon of Ocean Ecoventures said that Steller was at least 10' above the surface...the whales, about 15 or so, lots of juveniles included, went after this Steller for a few minutes and then left him...they will do that, sometimes it's for teaching purposes...there were two Stellers in the midst of this...see the one on the surface on the right side of the image...

...not sure which of the whales this is (below) but it appears to be using its tail...and that's another method of attacking...

...on the right are the flippers of the Steller sea lion...there were two sea lions who were being harassed so no telling if the trashing was equal for both...but as mentioned, the whales left them and moved on...

...killer whales need to eat and if you happen to be there, right place at the right time, or as some would prefer to not see that, wrong place at the wrong time...however, this is what these apex predators need to do in order to stay alive and that is eat.
...The Steller sea lions, harbor seals, porpoise, and many other animals are part of the food chain and today's example of these apex predators was striking.  This event today was not for a meal but more possibly for a training session...but looking at the length of time 'on' the Steller, only 4 minutes, it would have had be have been honing a skill perhaps or teaching the younger ones a skill.  Had they been intent of having a meal it would have taken a long time, sometimes up to an hour and a half - preparing and eating it.
...after they had moved on for several minutes, the transients began changing direction at the surface, a sign they might have found some prey to go after...yep...looks like they got a harbor seal...it was quick and on they went...there was evidence at the surface that they had made a kill and were possibly taking their meal with them.

~~~
...at that time we didn't know that the J17s and J22s were in the area, but we found out and went over to see them...they were only a couple miles west of the Ts and were spread out...
...friends David and Barbara on the Peniel - All Aboard Sailing...

...Capt. Jim had said something to the passengers that all we needed now was a bald eagle...yes, of course, several minutes later, a bald eagle flew by and he had some food in his talons...

...these two and Moby J-44 (not shown here) with Patos lighthouse in the distance.

...far off from them were four others and Cookie J-38 (not shown here) was moving back and forth between the two groups of Js...

...DoubleStuf J-34 surprised us all with this breach!

...one more bald eagle at Green Pt....while all the Stellers there were 'lounging' around in the water...

...and a good day it has been...then again everyday is a good day...you just have to make it so...

4-2-16 On the West Side Again!

Saturday, April 2nd
...the whereabouts of the J17s and J22s over the last many days has been intriguing...
...the question at the end of each time they are seen is, "wonder where they will show up next."...because they certainly have their own agenda...after all they're just living their lives...it isn't about entertaining the humans.
...what intrigues me the most is what is going on...we may never know the answer or we might know once the rest of J Pod shows back up...
...by late morning the J17s and J22s were seen coming up the west side...another 'tree/whale' photo op but instead I just watched them, as they were a bit farther from shore...
...they were spread out for maybe a mile or more...hum...were there more here?...would they make it up to the park this time before veering offshore?...
...yes!...it was impossible to see all eleven of them with the sea state as it was and getting worse...

...Princess Angeline and Tahlequah were at the back of the group...all others, it appeared had already passed the lighthouse...then DoubleStuf changed direction...were they coming back down island?...yes, but only to where Princess A. and Tahlequah were into some salmon...next thing I see is DoubleStuf chasing salmon (not shown here), some big lunges and then the tip of his fin as it zoomed and cut through the surface chasing those fish...

...they were quite a ways offshore...and it lasted just a few minutes and then DoubleStuf and Tahlequah made a big surfacing in unison...several times!

...they continued up island and spent the afternoon in some very nasty water until nightfall...
Here's an image to show where they have been...funny thing is that just about each time they are seen they are then not seen for a day or more...isn't that just awesome!

...wonder where they will show up next...p.s.  they were not seen at all on Sunday!

3-31-16 A West Side Day With Orcas

Thursday, March 31st
...if you want whales on the west side in the morning, make a dentist appt....works every time!
...I located the whales when they had already gone down island and were off South Beach...
...the same two family groups who have been in here for several days...
...what would they do next?
...similar to what they have been doing, only in a different location, meandering you might call it...going one direction for a while, then back to where they had just come from, and then back down island again...
...during one of their up island 'trips' as they were moving along very slowly, Tahlequah J-35 began logging and she did so for two minutes...sometimes one of the whales will log for a bit, but two minutes is a bit more than the average from what I have seen...the whales continued up island for a few more minutes and turned and went back down...as they did one of the whales began logging, but this time you could only see the melon, not even a bit of an eye patch...not enough information for an ID...it could have been Tahlequah or someone else...
...I asked David of All Aboard Sailing...they too got some images of the logging events, but nothing else conclusive...

...mid afternoon the whales grouped up and again changed direction and were coming back up island...they were moving so slowly...

 ...so it's not summer yet...this is their home whenever they want to be here...

...you'd laugh if you watched me run back and forth trying to get pictures of the whales in the trees!

...this time the whales were 'definitely' coming up island...they were less than a mile from Lime Kiln...

...I told some folks in the parking lot that whales were heading this way and they might make it to the park...well, Liz, from South Carolina had just gotten off the ferry, at 4pm no less!...and came out to the park...the whales could only be seen with binoculars...I handed her mine...she located the whales surfacing near the ship...and then they played in the freighter wake...and she saw it all through the binos :)

...thanks Liz!  You made the day with your enthusiasm...
...she told me about a place near Charleston, South Carolina, where dolphins strand feed...I had to look it up...'No words ' absolutely amazing!  

Here's a YouTube Video of dolphins strand feeding.

3-27-16 A Different Kind of J Pod Split

Sunday, March 27th
...early morning word - whales seen near Orcas Island ferry dock...
...Tom from Deer Harbor Charters reported that it was some members of J Pod!
...like wow! - they didn't all go out the other night...
...it was Princess Angeline's J-17 and Oreo's J-22 families...
...they are the whales who had gone up Trincomali Channel on the 24th...

...this is the most pronounced J Pod split since 2010 when they separated into two groups...after they had continued that split, I started calling them Group A and Group B because it was easier than saying/typing their names every time...
...this split is different!
...it's a 'wait and see' time for what occurs next...from hearing where they were last seen today, it looks like they might be heading back up...maybe they will make a big loop and be seen off the ferry again in the next couple of days...
...maybe ferry ridership will increase :)  !
...on Peregrine with Capt. Jim over near Blakely Island...inland waters...they had gone east to Blakely and back again...someone said the whales passed the Orcas Ferry terminal three times...they eventually went through Pole Pass - a very, very narrow place - heard about that from David of All Aboard Sailing...he said it was awesome!...they headed west in Spieden Channel and angled back to the north...but did they end up going north?...no telling where they will show up next.

...here's a few minutes video clip of them today...

...I remember last year the J16s with their two new babies spent time away from the rest of J Pod.  It appeared they were doing that because of the two young ones - less travel, more rest.

Maybe that's why the J17s stayed in and with them the J22s for added support. The J17s have three adult females, three 5 to 6 year olds, and the two babies. The J22s have one adult female, an 18 year old male, and a 12 1/2 year old male.

...Enough food to feed this size group while the rest of the pod went west in search of enough food to feed them.

Don't know but just a thought.

 

...we won't know what, if anything, is going on with them until something, if anything different happens...now doesn't that make a lot of sense!  ha!