Fun for Mother's Day on May 11th

...with Mother's Day being May 11th...

...Grandma, Shachi J-19 with the youngest member of the J19 family. 

...taken from the shore at Lime Kiln, this eagle was down on the rocks below the lighthouse - amazing!

Yes, mom was up in a tree, somewhere!

5-10-23 Humpback-Transients-Eagle

Thanks to the 'heads-up' of others, it was quite a day!

Transient orcas were coming south in San Juan Channel. There are many places they can change their direction of travel. Luckily they continued down the Channel. A few images from the 900 I took. There were 19 Transient orcas, from very young to seniors. Here are a couple highlights from the passby.

below - that white is the underside of someone's right tail fluke.

As fun a day as it was...something was missing.

Though it's interesting to see so many Transients this spring, it is concerning to me that the Southern Resident orcas are not seen much.  The SRKWs should be here at this time of year, feasting on salmon that are (sould be) returning to the Fraser River, Canada. But the absence of J,K and L pods tells us a lot.

I'd rather they go where they can find enough salmon. We've seen in years past how they have come into these waters and travel, travel, travel without spending much time in any one place and then go back out to sea - an indicator of where the salmon are or are not.

So just maybe the Transients will help reduce the seal and sea lion population and they might be doing 'their part' to help restore salmon. Round about way, but every living salmon that survives is of upmost importance not only for the SRKWs, but for the other 136 species that rely on salmon.  Look it up 137 Species that Rely on Salmon.

 

4-19-18 Transient Orca - T49A4 A Rough and Tumble Kid

Thursday, April 19th
...yesterday the T123s and the T36As were together and behind them were the T49As...
...and today the T49As were seen in Haro Strait...
...riding along on the Western Prince...here's how it went...

...

 ...we continued down Haro Strait and stopped at Whale Rocks to see the seals and sea lions...and we noticed several eagles flying in and landing on the far side of the small island next the WRs...let's have a look...

 ...there were a total of 6 eagles...it was obviously this one's turn...

...going through images often reveals something new or unusual...

...more image looking, more revealed...T49A5 has a few unusual scratches...

...and when I continued looking - yikes! - what had T49A4 been tangling with?!!!

...not life threatening...more like being a rough an tumble kid! 

4-15-17 T65As, T65Bs, and T49As

Saturday, April 15th
...just before leaving Friday Harbor on the Western Prince, Capt. Michael gets word of whales not too far in the distance...
...he waited until we were just about on scene to let everyone know...you know because it's never a guarantee until you actually see them!
Here's who we saw today...

...image above whale on the left - T65A2 has an interesting story that occurred back in April of 2013...link here...see how much smaller he was then and what went on...it wasn't  monumental but it was something that we humans don't get to see very often or perhaps ever before that or after...
...continuing with who we saw today...

...those open mouths!

...will this beautiful spring weather be here tomorrow?  

4-4-17 Killer Whales the T11s

Tuesday, April 4th 
...this image is from March 30th...male? female? if it's a female she might be looking for a place to molt.

...then on April 4th while out on the Western Prince...the T11s, two animals, who are not usually seen here often during the season...in the past it seems they are seen coming in, this time it was through Baynes Channel, and up Haro Strait, miles from the west side shoreline...often they will turn and go back out in the next day or two...we'll have to wait to see if/when they show up again...

...they appeared to be in hunt mode...about 1/4 mile apart and slowly moving along...looking, listening for a possible meal...perhaps.

...April 6th

...lots of bald eagle action...soon the eggs will be hatching and there will be even more action in the eagle world!

3-31-17 Eating On the Fly!

Friday, March 31st
...after returning from the trip on the Western Prince to see the J17s and Onyx L-87 - see prior post - I came along the west side thinking Big Mama, BCY0324, might be near by...

...well, that was lucky...
...then the 'eagle adventure' began...

...and speaking of eagles...
need a printable calendar for April...