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...

3-12-15 Juvenile Steller In An Unusual Place

Thursday, March 12th
...no whales in this area today...but a couple other interesting things while out on Maya's Charters...

...a juvenile Steller sea lion...

...I wonder how recently his mom left him...

...we saw lots and lots of pairs of eagles...

...I guess it is that time of year!

3-3-15 Fun Time with Porpoise and Sea Lions

Tuesday, March 3rd

...today was a great encounter, not far from Lime Kiln, with Dall's porpoise while out with Capt. Jim...one of the best Dall's encounters in a long, long time...

...then we headed up to Kelp Reef marker to see if there were any Steller sea lions about...and that was quite amazing!

 
...the only thing that could beat all of that, of course, would be the whales!
...they'll be back...after all, it is still only March, even though it feels like April...

...please don't allow your focus to veer away from the need for wild salmon...it is wonderful that there are three new babies...but they cannot carry the Community by themselves...

5/12-14/14 A Little of This and a Lot of TRASH

Monday-Wednesday, May 12-14th
...very little, that we humans are aware of, going on in the killer whale world in this area...
...after seeing a couple minke whales off the west side they and others have been seen way south, almost to Puget Sound...thanks Capt. Jim - it was a long trip down there and luckily it was flat calm...

...many Steller sea lions at Whale Rocks and some young juveniles too...

...there was a report of a Steller sea lion hauled out on the Salmon Bank buoy with a 'strap' around it's neck...we didn't see it but it happened to be a day we were picking up a lot of OCEAN TRASH...here's a sampling...

...we did see a couple branded Steller sea lions...
...can't quite make out the number on this guy...

...183R - well he's around here a lot in the winter...one day this week he was at Green Pt., off the north end of San Juan Island...and the next - here he is at Whale Rocks off the south end!

...finding that Steller with the strap around it's neck will be by chance...since they move about so much...and they usually leave the area by the end of this month and head back to their breeding colony...maybe someone will see it again...unfortunately there isn't much that can be done - except for the humans to stop letting trash get into the ocean...
...I played with this image for the effect...just liked the way the harbor seals were lying about...

...then yesterday, while out, we got word a couple killer whales had been sighted...off we went to join in on the search...
...T93 and T97 and they looked like they were on their way to the lighthouse!

...they zigged and zagged and didn't ever get that far across Haro Strait...

...a few fun pics too...Dave Ellifrit on the Center for Whale Research boat and Simon on his Ocean Ecoventures boat...

...while on the way back we picked up more trash...another float - there are so many floats out there - adrift - I think someone could open up a store and sell them...we put one of the passengers to work...

...this piece was so large it took dad and son to get it in the boat...good job fellas!

...this stuff comes in all sizes and this piece was disintegrating rapidly...

...as long as we are in US waters we can pick up trash, once in Canadian waters we cannot pick up anything from the surface...same goes for the Canadians in US waters...
...we continued on our way...spotting an elephant seal!

...a bald eagle coming in for a landing...

...and as we were looking at the wildlife on Low Island, just off County Park, one of the passengers noticed a harbor seal that looked like it had something around its neck...

...that looks like a plastic tie...though you can't see it in these two images the same 'skinning' looked to be occurring on the other side of the seal...I reported it to The Whale Museum's Hot Line for sightings and strandings...it's not a stranding but I wanted this documented...
...I can only imagine what happens to thousands of animals in the ocean who suffer and die from these types of situations...

...no word from J, K or L pods...I believe they will be here - when the salmon arrive too...when that will be is the question...

4-30-14 How A Steller Sea Lion Eats an Octopus!

Wednesday, April 30th

...yesterday it was Pacific white sided dolphins...today it was a Steller sea lion eating what was thought to be a skate...until I looked at the few photos I took...yikes!
Capt. Jim was taking pictures...I'm sure he got some good ones of that octopus...
...that explains what the long 'things' are - the tenacles...

...it wasn't until I zoomed in on this next image and saw the suction cups...

...in March we'd seen bald eagles eating an octopus...and it continues to be a strange year...

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.

2-14-14 It's Pink !

February 14th

Anyone you would like to send this 'smooch' too? Go for it!



...back to February 11th

Those brief calls were on the Lime Kiln hydrophones.

...the 13th...

...there were two in the bay going back and forth...they were very active and coming up between the large swells...
...I began hearing a sound coming from behind me...I couldn't place it...then I saw 'IT!' - public enemy #1, in my book - a river otter!

...the place looks like a fortress around the edges with all kinds of deterrents (hopefully) to cause it to want to have its babies somewhere else...yeah, they are cute but they are extremely destructive and extremely stinky...
...later on a friend called to tell me he had seen the Space Station fly by...and he was so excited...it's really neat to see even if it is for only a couple minutes...
...the last time I saw the Space Station was in January...here's my attempt at video taping it - ha!

...we were talking about the Steller sea lions at Green Pt. on Spieden Island...several times in the last three years, while out with Capt. Jim of Maya's Westside Charters, we've seen an increasing number of juvenile Steller sea lions, but only rarely at Green Pt...this one was at Green Pt. early in 2013...

...but usually it's just the adult males and occasionally a California sea lion...now we're waiting for the moms and pups to show up there too!

1-21-14 It Was A Steller Day!

Tuesday, January 21st
...calm waters, whales somewhere out there...out on Maya's Westside Charters - yes, even in the winter when people want to go and explore...
...Capt. Jim let Capt. David know that whales were seen coming out of Puget Sound...that's great, except that there are a lot of options once they get into that big water...
...but there was a chance, so down island we went...at Whale Rocks we stopped to see the Steller sea lions...those two youngest pups and moms that we saw on our January 4th trip were still there and today it looked like they were 'snuggled' in the middle of several adults...

...this other one looked young until he turned to 'talk' to the one getting out of the water...

...as we came around to the other side of Whale Rocks 261R's brand was nicely visible - R stands for Rogue Reef, Oregon - ...we send these images to the researchers who track the sightings of the Stellers...

...no whales did we see...but I did hear them...just a few minutes after getting home - just after 4pm, I began to hear the whales over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...the calls were very faint, and only for a few minutes...
I had recorded the afternoon, while I was on the boat, and saw that they had also been very faint over the Lime Kiln HPs at close to 3pm...they were passing by a location where the hydrophones can pick them up ever so briefly...when they are this faint you know they are way out there!

...where will the Residents be tomorrow?  

Where's the salmon?  

That's where.

 

1-12-14 Timing, It's All About the Timing

Sunday, January 12th

...out on the Western Prince with the 'crew' of The Whale Museum for a trip to see what we could see...it's winter, so much can be weather dependent and it looked like we might get in the trip between storms...

...north we headed toward Spieden Island...no moms and pups here, but there were a few Steller hauled out quite high for what we normally see at this location...

...lots of animals on Spieden Island and lots of water falls...

...but NO cetaceans to be found...
...that is until 1 1/2 hours after the trip!
...I got a call from Hobbes of San Juan Orca Whale and Wildlife Tours..."I've got whales going by right now and here comes another group."
...from Reuben Tarte Park I saw one of the groups - 4 whales - they were close to shore coming into Rocky Bay and were going behind O'Neal Island...

...and then...

...here's a clip of the Ts...they may not have been 'exciting' in their actions, but it is always 'exciting' to see whales!

...the other group didn't come up my way...instead they headed to the other side of the channel and one of the many passages...to disappear until they magically appear once again...