...The Southern Residents (SRKWs) were out west, somewhere...
...Transients (this community is known as Bigg's killer whales, in honor of Dr. Michael Bigg)...there were small groups, taking seals and porpoise, in many parts of the inland waters...
August 31st:
J Pod had come in late on August 31st and went went up island in the early hours of of Sept. 1st.
September 1st:
...this is harbor seal weaning time and the Ts know when that occurs...what a surprise it was to have two family groups of Ts show up close to shore just south of Lime Kiln...and then right in front of the lighthouse...and then off of County Park...the kayaks were rafted up at the point south of County Park...they didn't know that a whale had already gone by them until she surfaced!...
...as they ate their way up Haro Strait...I heard that they did this most of the day as they kept on going wherever they wanted to!
...here's a bit of what we saw from Lime Kiln...
September 2nd: J Pod came back down from the Fraser River area, passing the lighthouse in the afternoon...
..no one had been able to verify if Scarlet J-50 was present or not - on either day...with so many experienced eyes, researchers and others, out on the water looking, one would have thought that she would have been seen...
...as they were approaching the lighthouse I saw Mike J-26 and a ways behind him it looked like Slick J16 and someone next to her, but my camera only got a tiny splash and nothing else...I kept the camera on Slick, but didn't ever see another whale surface near her...hmmm...will never know...Echo J-42 and Alki J-36 came along behind Slick - all were spread out...but no one had anyone else surfacing next to them...a mystery...
...late in the day while J Pod was down island and spread out, L Pod whales were coming in and coming across Haro St. toward the west side. I didn't realize it until the next day but the only whale I got an image of, because it was just about dark, was Fluke L-105 - oh, my...had I looked I would have known that more than just the L12s were here!...
September 3rd...
...in the early morning a FB post stated that hope was fading for Scarlet J50 because she hadn't been seen in the last two days - that's two whole days of many, many eyeballs searching for her - the mystery got even greater!...because Odyssey (whale watching boat, out in the early morning) thought they saw her with her brother...Soundwatch and CWR verified that she was here!!! Oh, my...did I ever get on social media to 'shout it out' that Scarlet is still here !!! WOW!
...it was early afternoon when the whales came up island...and in a tight group was Scarlet in between her mother and brother, surrounded by the J17s, J11s, and J22s, all passing by together...oh, my!
...here is just one image which caused me to pause...thinking of how low of a profile she was showing...which could play a role in why she was so difficult to find...can you see her?...easy to miss...
...others who I 'got on my camera' - were Surprise! L-86 and her offspring, Pooka L-106, Marina L-47 and her offspring, Mystic L-115, Muncher L-91 and her offspring, Magic L-122, Kasatka L-82, maybe others but not sure yet, J Pod of course, and the L12s...wow - maybe about 45 SRKWs in these inland waters now...
...and the salmon...hope their numbers have increased too - to feed all the whales who are here now...
...glad but cautious...Scarlet has a long way to go...hoping all is successful with the Response Team doing all they can to help her.
...keep your hopeful feelings going...
AND
while you're at it, ask yourself, "What can I do differently to help affect a positive change to the eco-system, the one here and where you live?"
What changes are you willing to make? It takes everyone to start doing things differently.
...to a brighter future...
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