April 2026 - Catching Up

Due to several falls...recoving now...

And due to the lack of the presence of SRKWs which translates to lack of salmon, it has been an unusual time.  I took this image several years ago from shore near Lime Kiln Lighthouse. The image is exactly as it was taken, 2 whales and their timing was perfect!

That image 'says' it all with the state of the SRKWs now.

There have been many Transient orcas who don't eat salmon but they are helpful because they eat seals and sea lions who do eat salmon.  That's a help!

Mother's Day is in May...This is a grandmother - Shachi J-19 with the youngest of 2 Grand Offspring.  Image was taken from shore near the Lighthouse.

Recently I participated in presenting at the TWM's Marine Naturalist Class.  I was a bit shacky because it's been a long time...so I finally had a few ideas...

One was of a shirt I had purchased many years ago, and decided I would wear that...but how would I get a picture of me wearing it...hmmm... the mirror!

The whales have a 'warning

 - stay away - flag

No telling when/where J Pod will show up next.

K Pod and L Pod are likely somewhere along the outer coast...but that's just a guess.

                        Happy Sprng

and Happy Mother's/Grandmother's Day ...in May

What A Wonderful Day Watching J Pod!

 J and K Pods had come in to the inland waters in early April.  They went up north to the Strait of Georgia, Canada, and spent many days there.   K Pod came down and traveled far offshore, closer to Vancouver Island and then into the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward the open ocean.

So where was J Pod? They came down a couple days later, or part way.  They were in Boundary Pass and almost to where Haro Strait and Boundary Pass meet.  But instead of continuing into Haro Strait they made a turn and went up along Pender Island to Active Pass and into the Strait of Georgia, something they will do because it takes them to basically to the same area outside of the entrance to the Fraser River where the salmon are before they head up the Fraser River. 

They were seen a few days later in San Juan Channel going down island but then changed their direction to up island!  ...keeping the humans wondering what they would do next.

On April 16 they came down the west side and then later that day they came back up island!  That's how it used to be! It brought a 'hopeful feeling' that just maybe there was going to be enough salmon for them...we hope.

Here are a few images of some of J Pod coming down island and up island passing Lime Kiln lighthouse. It was like it used to be!  Here's hoping...

A big splash from a tail slap.

            Coming down...

This looks like Grandma, Shachi J-19,                                                            with very young new member of this family group.

In the center the orca just about to disappear under the surface after a great spyhop, which I only got this part of!

She was closer to shore!  Many people watching the whales as they either went up island or down island. 

In the distance someone landing from a breach.

And this is the resulting landing! 

They know where to go to seek out salmon.  

Let's just hope they find plenty!

And since they are currently still in the inland waters maybe we'll get to see them again...soon!

June 2024 - SRKWs - Full of Energy!

 Happy whales!!  This is just one pass-by! images from shore by Jeanne Hyde.

This was a day of hope for this community of orcas which in turn showed those watching that just maybe they too could help this community of orcas so that they can thrive in these waters that have been their home for more years than we humans know.

Enjoy this 'energy in motion' and think about what you can do to help these whales of J, K and L pods. The next generation of humans and whales will thank you!  

                                            One more heading for the fun!

April 5 - Part 3 - J Pod

 This is the 3rd & last post of a very good day!

The inset highlights the harbor seals hauled out at the north end of Goose Island. Of course the seals were paying great attention to the orcas :)

...some of the whales had made the turn and were coming down close along the SJI shoreline. 

Shachi J-19, Eclipse J-41, Crescent J-58

(recap of Cattle Pass encounter: first seen coming down far offshore...then another group of J Pod whales were coming down a bit closer and they were heading into the really rough incoming current...then this group paused and changed direction and went north a short distance and then turned toward shore and came down between Goose Ialand and SJI - the images on this page show that.)

And then...After it seemed that all had exited Cattle Pass, a person I was talking with noticed some whales really far across and further down from where the first of the whales were seen.

They were some of the J Pod whales and their behavior looked as if they were foraging.  To say the least, it was a confusing afternoon...but the whales knew what they were doing!

This 'event' raised a few questions...

I had heard that the whales had been in mid-channel and were foraging, taking their time before getting to Cattle Pass.  Then seeing some of the whales (maybe all - they were so far away) appearing to be foraging off the south end of Lopez Island...hmmm...What are they foraging on?

Was there a herring run somewhee??? that brought in salmon? 

Had there been a salmon release from a hatchery?

Were the Spring Chinook returning?

All questions?

On this day as the seas began to get rough and the wind picked up and some Transient orcas had been seen in a totally different area, the SRKWs had only the ocean to contend with - YAY!  

We can only hope they will have a successful year.

J Pod - April 5, 2023

April 5, 2023 

J Pod was coming down San Juan Channel.  Before J Pod came into view, some Transient orcas appeared going up the Channel and then the disappeared because J Pod was coming their way. The current was going up San Juan Channel.  Many of the whales were on the far side, closer to Lopez Island and people on the shore were watching from there and we were standing on the San Juan Island side.

Yes, that's Lopez Island in the backgrouond.

Who's looking at who?  

Other J Pod whales were not as far across and were entering the strongest current and it wasn't long before you could see they were fighting to get through it.

And then there were dorsal fins going every which way.  They were about to change direction.  (all those white things are arrows pointing in the direction the dorsal fin is going.

And then ---- they turned back to going up island.

They were going to take the 'inside' route - between Goose Island and San Juan Island.  It is so special (to me) to get to see them as they are making decisions. Today's decision was about the wellbeing of the entire 25 whales in J Pod.  They didn't just come up and zip around the top of Goose Island. No, they were together in groups and as they rounded the top end of Goose Island you could tell they were 'pretty glad' to be taking this route, in my opinion.

Here are a couple images of them as they came down the San Juan Island side of Goose Island.

I'll post more of this encounter in the next couple of days.  Too tired now :) 

Thank you, J Pod, for your presence.                                                    Hoping you will find enough salmon to eat.

February 10, 2023 - The SRKWs Were Here Tonight

It began February 10 at about 9:30pm...

Faint vocals over the Lime Kiln hydrophone.

At first there was a mixture of mainly the L Pod, up-tic, calls and what sounded like J Pod, possibly too. 

Today when I reviewed the recording from last night those calls were mainly J Pod and not L Pod.  However, it was strange to me to hear so many up-tic calls. I still wonder if some Ls were present.   Oh, well, the whales know and that's what really matters the most.

 Their calls faded out...hmmm...which way did they go.

Not much later they 'reappeared' their chatting continuing on.

It is now February 11 and just 10 minutes into this day and the whales, Js and Ls and possibly Ks have been vocalizing for 2 1/2 hours.

Their calls have mainly been faint and relatively consistent.

So that project I was working on was set aside to just be and just listen to the whales. :)

It's not uncommon for them to be here at this time of year. Yet, only they know when that will be.

And it won't be known, maybe, until daylight which direction they went.

They have many options.

It now seems they have stopped 'talking' or gone out of range of the LK hydophone.

They might be just out there...oops...I hear them again now...just a few vocals and more distant too.

How sweet it is to be still and to just listen.

Listening to them is almost as wonderful as seeing them :)

Thank you SRKWs for the gift of being here this night.

Been A Long Time Since Last Posting

Now I know why it has been so long since my last post.

J Pod and the L12s, consisting of 10 whales, except that Solstice L-89 has been missing, so it's 9 of the L12s.  This group of nine have historically traveled together. And we know that because of the years and years of work the Center for Whale Research has done. I can only imagine how many encounters it took to figure out who belonged to who and which family units travel together.  I'm feeling very grateful for all the history CWR has gathered/figured out/etc. which makes it easy in this day.  Thank you!

Can you imagine having only a film camera.  There is no 'instant gratification' of 'you got the image' but you wouldn't know, because the film had to be developed.  Just think on that for a while. You didn't have to get a negative strip.

(What's that? the younger generation of people say!) to then figure out the bits and pieces of identifiable marks on each individual.  Just think about it.  It's mind boggling!

Now we know the history of the family units and it's a heck of a lot easier to figure out who belongs to who.

However, sometimes it has to wait a while, like in the case of Spock K-20 who was seen off the coast of Oregon in late April. The folks who took the video didn't know what a 'gem' they had.  Luckily, it was posted to social media and was seen by a local gal who knows her stuff.  She immediately knew that this was someone "NEW"!  K Pod was seen again in May off the coast of Oregon, but there was no additional information to tie that calf to a specific family.

We had to wait and hope that the calf would come into the inland waters with a mom by his/her side. That day finally came.

But do I have an image to show you?  Of course not.  I too will have to wait until I'm in the right spot and Spock and her oldest, Comet K-38, along with new baby, K-45, surface while I have the camera ready at the right moment.  Oh, the anticipation!

So when you see the SRKWs remember what went into learning who they are, who they belonged to, who their close companions are.

We think of ourselves as 'loving the SRKWs' but what are we 'the humans' doing to actually make a difference 'for the better' for this community of orcas.

Think on that too. And then follow through to help these whales recover.

Thanks for reading this.

Jeanne