Friday, May 22, 2015

5-22-15 The Shot of the Day - A Gull?

Friday, May 22nd
...My shot of the day! Starting at the end of the day, sitting on the rocks at Lime Kiln a gull was flying by, normal, but then it seemed to make a few circles  - three fish!...gulls are usually gobbling up every little fish they can right on the spot, so to see one carrying fish around like this...maybe it was taking food to its chicks...I wonder where that nest might be...
...as usual during 'whale season' everyone was wondering where the whales would be this morning...two groups yesterday...had they really split?...possibly...not uncommon for the J16s to be off on their own this spring...
...then someone spotted 'J pod' up near East Pt....however, when we arrived on scene, and after talking with others, it was only the J16s who were present...
...Echo J-42 seems to have grown a lot in the last few months, or maybe it's just the angle of her when seen in this image...

...Slick J-16 and 'CatchUp' (my nickname for J-50) were actually together...they were spread out...it seemed they were foraging but no one 'showed' us a salmon so I couldn't be sure :)...
...I love the contrast of big fin/little fin...
...in the middle of it all someone spotted a humpback so we raced over to see Big Mama...we came back over to see the J16s before leaving...Echo began this...
...I wonder if she knew something we didn't...the rest of J pod was coming from 'out of the blue'...always so neat when least expected!
..I enlarged those splashes to reveal whales!
...Capt. Jim had mentioned about how sometimes there is a photo op of Patos lighthouse and a whale...well, what do you know!  Thank you Blackberry J-27!
...Granny J-2, Onyx L-87, Blackberry J-27, and Mako J-39 were together...
...here's the Center for Whale Research documenting those present...
...the presence of J-27 and J-39 - Group B whales, and J-2 and L-87 - Group A whales, indicated that it was most likely all of J pod was soon to be present...they were heading down...would they make it to the park????
...first it was County Park...(between the sign and the ship - look close)

... and then Lime Kiln...
...doesn't get much better than this...
...oh, except for that gull!  AMAZING!
...and while writing this post I was listening to J pod over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...

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