Saturday, August 9, 2014

8-9-14 Transient Here and Over There

Saturday, August 9th
...where would they be today?...late yesterday the 19 L pod whales and the K Klik (K-21, K-16, K-35) came back down island...it was 'the perfect' set-up for them to leave and head west...
...why?...because even though there have been some big mixing ups, this time they were more in their respective groupings...and the K Klik often travel with a group other than K pod...
...it was a day full of whales all over the place, except for the Ls and Ks who came back down island late yesterday...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters for the afternoon, we head over to see the T65As and T36As...they have stayed in the area the last few days...

 


 
...later on we saw the T18s...big male in that group I call Mr. Floppy Fin - T19B...
...they were at Gull Island when we saw them and were working all around this small island...some harbor seals looking very worried as they watched T19...

...then T19B surfaces...his fin is so huge!
...T18 was way far away and later joined T19, T19B and T19C as they made their way over to some of the Cactus Islands where they began hunting seals again...


...back at home at 8:20 p.m. I began hearing distant Transient calls over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...that might have been the T65As and the T36As coming down Haro...the timing was about right...

...as for the Residents...since those Ls and the K Klik were not sighted today they probably headed west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca...and the others had spent the night near the mouth of the Fraser River - they know where the salmon are!

...while we were watching the T18s we saw a school of sockeye salmon go by - that's the first of the sockeye I've seen 'finning' as it is called, where you can see their fins breaking the surface of the water...

...at about 11:15 pm I began hearing K pod calls on the Lime Kiln and Orca Sound hydrophones...wow!
...tomorrow should be another interesting day in the world of the whales...

1 comment:

Robyn said...

Such great shots of the seals watching from their hiding spot in the rocks, Jeanne. Loved it!