Friday, July 17, 2015

7-17-15 What is L-87 Up To?

7-18 pm. One last update to end this chapter: the K13s had been seen by a few others coming up island in a group at about 9:30 on Friday night. So Onyx had not been traveling alone.  On Saturday morning (7-18) many whales were seen inbound in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  On Peregrine we headed out toward Sooke. The whales were spread far and wide and by chance Onyx L-87 surfaced up ahead of us!  Traveling in the vicinity were some of the K13s. Other whales were seen as well.

So now I wonder if some of those faint calls he was calling out to incoming whales?!

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Friday, July 17th
At 5:47 pm, Friday, I heard what sounded like a call that L-87 makes.  I heard this call over the Orca Sound hydrophones.
What I could not understand was if it was L-87 or someone else. He has supposedly gone up island with Granny J-2, J19s, J14s, K14s, who were now at the Pender Bluffs.  The K13s had stayed down island.

Laurie and I went to County Park to scan. 
I had hit the record button for Lime Kiln (spelled out for Stephanie) hydrophones as we left the house.

Lucky that I did.
We could not locate a whale anywhere from County Park.
However, listening to the Lime Kiln hydrophone recording once home,
calls from L-87 were recorded starting at 6:17 pm for close to 4 minutes. 

I heard a short while later over the radio that someone was with Onyx.
It was someone I knew.
I called.
Yes, he was with Onyx and they were about a mile or so south of Lime Kiln.

But why were some of his calls heard over the Orca Sound hydrophones?  Maybe he didn't come up with Granny and the rest when they went up island at 3:00 pm.
Maybe he came up island later and got within range of the Orca Sound hydrophones and then turned back down island?

What is most interesting is that he is NOT with Granny J-2 and the others who have been traveling with her lately.

What is he going to do next? 
Update:  two minutes after posting this, Onyx's calls were once again heard over the Lime Kiln hydrophones!...wild!
Onyx is traveling up island, 9:38 pm.  
He appears to be alone.
Update:  now 10:23 pm and his calls are still being heard over Orca Sound Hps in the distance. 
Update: Now 11:00 pm.  His calls still being heard faintly over the Orca Sound Hps.
Update:  Now 11:48 pm and Onyx's calls are starting over the Lime Kiln hydrophones
Update: I heard Onyx's calls until at least 1:30 a.m. 7-18-15.

2 comments:

Monika said...

I've been listening to this too - so bizarre! I heard one report that he had turned south with the K13s, but wasn't seen with them later - so that matches up that he didn't go north with J2 et al and then is by himself.

Interesting but probably totally unrelated side note: On July 15 last year I have a recording of Onyx by himself. He went south with another group while his usual gang went north, then he went north later by himself trying to catch up.

Jeanne said...

Thanks for the reminder Monika. I do remember that. I was at the park when he went north. He was 1 hour and 8 minutes behind the rest of the whales who had gone north.