2-12-2020 The Octopus and the Sea Lion

Wednesday, February 12th

2-14 - just got it confirmed  -  that is the eye of the octopus!!! (3rd and 4th image) WOW!

A quiet day...a couple harbor seals...but then...

 This image shocked me...was I looking at the eye of the octopus?  I had to go look up images of one..yes, I think that is!

..the more I looked at it the more it looks like an arm looped up. Maybe an arm is wrapped around the eye!

At first it was difficult to tell what that sea lion had...but there were too many long pieces (arms), so it was likely an octopus...quite fascinating to watch this sea lion right near the lighthouse, take this octopus and the force used when flinging it.
I thought they were called tentacles but I learned octopus have arms, not tentacles.

4-30-15 Octopus, Humpback, Killer Whales

Thursday, April 30th
...it was not nice water, but out with Capt. Jim we went...there had been no sightings of any whales of any type so far this morning...
...oh, but we came upon a harbor seal...eating an octopus!

...then we headed north to look for the two humpbacks that eluded everyone the day before...the seas were nastier up here, so when Capt. Jim spotted the blow of a humpback, and with the wind and choppy seas - what a find!...MMY0006 aka Windy was the one I saw, so I imagine BCY0324 Big Mama was there as well...somewhere in those breaking white caps!
...then we get a call..."killer whales"...and off we went...and adding to the choppy seas were the whales so very close to shore...
...it was the T65As, a family of 5, and the T65Bs a family of 2..two sisters and their kids...they have been around a lot lately...the T75Bs had been with them, but they split off and are somewhere else...wherever that might be...
...that tail belongs to a female...it's straight across...

...T65A2 - and his FIRST notch...I imagine he may get more!

...once the tail action began, it just kept on and on...

...one of the little guys, either T65A4 or T65A5 breached a few times, giving the folks from Pennsylvania a thrill!

...we heard that J Pod was on their way in...oh, goodie...except that I haven't heard any of those burp (fish sounds) at all lately...(I've been tracking a certain sound that has preceded the presence of J pod over 90% of the time this past winter).
I heard some J pod calls over the Lime Kiln hydrophones at about 7:30 tonight...they were very far off and sounded more like they were heading due east and not toward the west side of the island...at least not just yet...okay, time to set the alarm for zero-dark-thirty-a.m. ...it's getting to be that time of the year...it will be up and out the door really early, just in case...

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...

3-24-14 Just About Everything Including Elusive Whales

Over the last few days...
...a brief sighting of the T30s on March 22nd by Capt. David on the Peregrine...
...two groups of Ts were spotted late in the day on the 23rd...
...some Dall's porpoise encounters - which are always great...
...seals, seals, and more seals...
...and some not so common things...
Coming in for a landing.

Not sure I really want to eat this.

Half mile off shore and a good time for a snooze.

Is this a bungee cord?

...No, it's octopus!

...Brant geese...they pass through here in the spring...in the last couple days we have seen lots...

...a large flock of low flying birds...

...the white necklace is one clue...

...here's one link about the Brant life cycle...provided by the Brant Wildlife Festival website...

5-19-13 Ts, J Pod, Harbor Seal and an Octopus!

Sunday, May 19th
...early morning I hear transient calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophones, lasting less than four minutes...I immediately thought it might be T20 and T21...and it was!...this is the third time I have recorded them, and each time it's the same, less than 4 minutes, brief yet clear calls...'their calling card' maybe?

...we had no idea where J pod was, so on Maya's Westside Charters we headed out to meet up with T20 and T21....this is T20...

...just as we were leaving the scene we learn that J pod was coming down the west side...we met with them about a mile south of the park where they stopped, played, socialized, and began to slowly move up island...

...while I missed their pass by at the park from shore, I did see it from the water...it appeared that a few whales had passed the lighthouse and then turned and came back down...

...while the rest of the whales seemed to stall out near Deadman Bay...it didn't seem to matter because whales and people were all having a great time!
...later in the day at the park a harbor seal surfaced with an octopus!...and proceeded to glup it down!...that was wild...

...J pod didn't come back up in the daylight...so no telling where they will be tomorrow...