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.

6-3-13 A Lazy Day With the L12s

Monday, June 3rd
...last night the L12s came back down island...while J pod continued north...

 ...so today on Maya's Westside Charters we had an afternoon with the L12s...

...image above is L-119...the image below is L-119's dorsal fin and you can barely see her tail beginning to come above the surface...

...and the last image is L-119's dorsal fin and tail and her mom, Matia L-77's head...the baby is rolling off of mom's back!

...Mega L-41...

...little L-119 was very spunky with her mom...well, I guess most babies are...

...there was a Minke whale out there all afternoon, going in circles in the same vicinity of the orca...

...Skana L-79, Spirit L-22, and Solstice L-89 were moving about very slowly...they may have had their own family resting group going on while the other whales were spread all over...

...as we were leaving, Mystery L-85 surfaced going that way (out)...was that an indication of what was to come???

...Ocean Sun L-25, Calypso L-94, and Cousteau L-113 were present today too...various times in the day we spotted bald eagles...

...we stopped for another bald eagle...this one was feeding the young in the nest...

...then the Capt. spots a kingfisher...it began hovering...I could hardly believe I actually got these images...

 

...I don't know what that is in her beak...it looks like something sticky or gooey...but all the images I took in this series are like that...

5-23-13 To See Orca Yesterday One Had To...

Wednesday, May 22nd
...be in Homer, Alaska!!  that is just too cool...thanks Christina for sending the article...it's very interesting...and they were in Katchamak Bay too..and they were offshore killer whales...spotted at first by Ashore Water Taxi...go to their map to see that service area...I know the area since my son and family live there...it's great to know I have whale spotters all the way in Alaska!... :)

...yesterday on Maya's Westside Charters we had a nice encounter with a Minke whale...

...then today. Thursday May 23rd, along the west side of San Juan Island there was a humpback who couldn't seem to make up her mind as to which way she wanted to go...if one was going to follow this whale from shore they needed a full tank of gas today - up island...no, down island...oh, no, up island...no, down...


I decided to just sit down and wait for the whale to go whichever way she wanted because she was practically outside my door, though at a distance...

...lucky for me she sounded going away from me, so I was able to ID her by the underside of her tail...I believe her ID # is BCY0324...I have seen her before...actually I saw her last year with her calf...

...she surfaced again and sounded again...this time much farther away...but that ship made for an interesting look...

...and then finally back up...she continued going up...at least for now...oops...she came back down again!!...she has been doing this since early this morning and right now it is about 5pm.

...4 of the last 5 days - Residents, Transients, Minke and a Humpback each on a different day - talk about mixing it up!