Friday, July 8th
...I think it's just about always an unusual day in the killer whale world...today certainly was!...I apologize for all the details, but this was a detail full day.
-Group B of J Pod was on their way in. (that's the J17s, J22s, J16s, and the J11s)...on Peregrine in the afternoon I did not see any of the J11s - Blackberry J-11, Tsuchi J-31, or Mako J-39...I heard they were somewhere but nowhere that we saw them in the flat calm water and sunny skies in the Strait of Juan de Fuca...representation of the three family groups we saw: J16s, J17s, J22s,
-Group A was discovered coming down Rosario Strait again today...then were nearing the bottom of Lopez in the early afternoon...
Group A rounded Lopez and came up the west side...
...at the same time the Group B whales had picked up their pace and were making their way across Haro Strait...
...bolting of the boat and heading to Lime Kiln lighthouse, I get there in time to see Shachi J-19 passing the lighthouse going up island...
...Granny J-2 was way up ahead...moments later Shachi turned and headed down and out toward the incoming Group B whales...
...30 minutes later, at 5:19 Granny came back down island passing the lighthouse...
...in the car to check things out a mile down island I see Polaris J-28 and baby J-54 and near them was Granny...then they began to go up island...I can't confirm if Polaris and J-54 went up island but running through the trees I believe I saw them, but - no proof no presence (at least at that location), Granny passed by the park at 6:19 and this time continued going up island...
...then some others came up...the J14s, two from the J17 family group - Notch J-47 and his mom, Tahlequah J-35, the J19s, Echo J-42 - yes - Echo!! (the rest of her family was a few miles down island from the lighthouse) and Onyx L-87...
...the most intriguing part today was Echo J-42...she came up to the park passing the lighthouse, going up island at 7:14pm, not in close (she was offshore from Eclipse J-41 and Nova J-51)...and at 8:12pm she was passing Land Bank, which is south from the lighthouse, going back down island...barely got her in the shot as she was going back down...the inset image is zoomed in to see the top line of her saddle and her dorsal fin nick (tiny)...
...the rest of Echo's family was down island, from where I saw her, by a mile or more...
...perhaps Cookie J-38 came to take her back...it happened to him in 2009, when Cookie was about six years old, he was with Polaris, Tahlequah, and their new little brother, Moby J-44, while Cookie's family, the J22s were down island a couple miles...Polaris took Cookie back to his mother - it was amazing to watch that unfold right in front of the lighthouse...
...back to today...by the time it was dark there were still some J Pod whales to the down island side and other J Pod whales - Group A plus a couple visitors from Group B had gone up island and not seen coming back down.
added July 9, 01:36 - yes the middle of the night - J Pod calls over the Lime Kiln hydrophones lasting intermittently over the next few hours...which ones? which way? ...can't wait to find out!
Thursday, July 7th
...but first here's a short video of some of the transients seen recently..
...now back today...
...I've decided that is not July 7th but is really May 1st!
...Why?
...because the weather is drizzling and Group A came down Rosario Strait this morning (they had been at the Fraser feasting on salmon) and around the bottom end and up past Lime Kiln lighthouse this afternoon! - just like they would do in the spring so many times in the past!
...they were spread out, only 1/3 of J Pod is here, but this afternoon it rained pretty well, so just maybe more salmon will be coming in with more orcas chasing in behind them - we can surely hope!
Sunday July 3rd
...excitement filled the air about San Juan Island when word came that J Pod whales were coming in...
...I would reserve my enthusiasm until they actually made it across Haro Strait...
...they did come in and came across...it was Group A of J Pod...Granny J-2, the J19s, J14s, and Onyx L-87...
...when they came past Lime Kiln lighthouse they did so in about two minutes...porpoising as they went by...
...with the glaring sun and the fast pass it was difficult to see who all were present...when I saw Onyx L-87 I figured it was Group A...it was...my images proved that...
...Granny took them north...
...as they were getting close to Active Pass, these 10 whales were spread a great distance...Granny was heading straight for the pass, when we hear over the radio that transient orcas are in the pass...we thought they were at the other end going the other direction...
...but those whales were coming out of the pass in our direction!
...there were two groups...
...Capt. Jim spotted a group of whales, that had just exited the pass close to the shore line and going up Trincomali Channel, at the same time I saw another group of whales crossing the entrance to the pass...they were far in the distance and it appeared they were the Residents entering the pass (not!). ...instead they were a second group of transients!...
...that might explain why Granny changed her course of travel and angled away from the entrance to the pass...for a short while...
...it was nuts!...we didn't know which way to look or who to follow...
...it was the T100s, T101s in the group that came out of Active Pass close along the shore and headed up Trincomali Channel..
...this is interesting...I haven't ever noticed spots like this on a saddle patch...
...the second group of transients, the T36As, T75Bs and T51, came down Swanson Channel, the same route that Granny and her group had gone up a short while before...
...Granny and the other 9 Residents eventually went through the pass (we heard over the radio)...
...earlier, when they passed by Lime Kiln, Onyx L-87 was seen foraging...later when we were approaching the J Pod whales, Onyx was still about a mile behind and he seemed to still be foraging (but we were quite in the distance)...
Monday, July 4th up until about 5:00pm.
...Group A was spotted coming down from the north and reports I heard were of the whales doing a lot of foraging...hope they were successful...
...the group of Transients we were last with last evening showed up off Lime Kiln lighthouse going up island...
...here's a map to give you an idea of what went on with Group A and the Ts from yesterday through about 5:00 pm today...
answer to: the question about the spots on the saddle patch in one of the images...it's shadows caused from the splashing water!
answer to: Which way is the whale going? To the left. That's T51 and sometimes his dorsal fin looks like it is backward.
Friday, October 10th
...listening to the hydrophones for any hint of whales in the area has not been very fruitful over the last few days...
...covered in fog, so visual was out of the question much of the time...
...I happened upon an online video of whales vocalizations recorded and in the title was the word 'rare'...I immediately wondered where that would be...
Ketchikan, Alaska...
here's the link to the audio...
https://screen.yahoo.com/videos-for-you/hydrophone-captures-whales-talking-rare-140843864.html
...it's a great example of hearing the 'language' of other whales...I don't know who they are...there is one call that is repeated over and over...I imagine whoever studies whales in those waters might know...
...evidently 'J Pod heard I was going to write about someone else talking, so they decided to give me something to compare it to'...in other words they showed up on the Lime Kiln hydrophones at 5:39 a.m. thank you very much!
...I only heard faint calls, lasting about 25 minutes...this time I was blinded by the darkness of the hour...and then fog...
...it wasn't until about 10:30 a.m. or so that I heard faint calls...'they're coming up!'...off to the park - completely socked in- arrgh!...but soon it began to lift...enough to see a little bit...
I heard K Pod calls...
...for your listening pleasure Lobo K-26 and his brother Kelp K-42 were passing by...
...then a bit later Lea K-14, Kelp K-42, and Yoda K-36 (not shown here) came back down...Lobo had gone way off shore by this time...
...off to go out on Maya's Westside Charters, I wanted to see all who were present...or should I say 'who got a birthday present' - Toby!
...the seas were rolly and choppy making it easier to spot those with the tall dorsal fins...
...Mike was offshore and Onyx was more inshore...
...the boat rolled one way when i wish it had rolled the other!
...one looked to be spyhopping, but then there was this strange something going on...
...Lobo, who had been with Granny J-2 when we had first arrived on scene, was now with Mike J-26...this was very interesting to watch...
...it was definitely fun attempting to take pictures through windows today!
...then I get home only to find out that the whales are coming up island...I had seen a couple Kingfishers at the harbor...glad I stopped to grab a few shots...
...the fog was gone, the rain was coming, and it was getting darker...
...under some trees to try to keep the camera dry...ha!
...the whales were not in close, but when I looked at my images...there was Moby J-44 having some fun with some kelp on his rostrum...
...difficult to see...he is on his back and has a piece of kelp draped over his mouth...
...the whales sounded more social and less food searching...and I know that at least Moby was having fun!
...by the end of the day, between the shore and the boat encounters, I did get to see some members of Group A and Group B [J11s, J22s (or J10s), J17s], and the four K14s...we had close to 30 whales here...a lot more than I had thought earlier in the day!
Wednesday, October 1st
...when I said at the end of yesterday's post that tomorrow could be interesting...well, that was an understatement!
...it began with whales coming up island..I can still only guess that it was Group A Minus (minus the J16s) who had come down last night at about 8pm...but it sure fits well...
...today Granny J-2, Onyx L-87, Shachi J-19 and Eclipse J-41 were the first whales to pass by...even those four were well spread out...
...quite a bit later a group came up...I was expecting the J14s...okay, they were there AND with them were the J11s...now that's interesting!
...Cappuccino K-21 came up island and I could see others, but I left to go out on Maya's Westside Charters...
I was curious if the J11s were still with the J14s...and yes they were...and so were some Lags!...aka - Pacific white sided dolphins...there weren't a lot, but it only takes a few...
...in shore at Kellett Bluff...then off shore south of Turn Pt....
...then up ahead of Onyx one of the Lags (the first three letters of their scientific name are: lag...that's why they are referred to as lags (only one syllable as opposed to 8 syllables)...could be called verbal shorthand...
...and in between those two places the J14s (Samish J-14, Hy'Shqa J-37 and her offspring Tilem Inges J-49, Suttles J-40, and Se-Yi Chn J-45) and the J11s (Blackberry J-27, Tsuchi J-31, and Mako J-39) at one point it looked like the J11s might turn and go back down island...but when we had left them they were still going north...
...back in and off the boat and to the park to see if I could find any of the J11s...nope...so far it didn't look like they had come back down...
...the K16s and Cappuccino K-21, the J16s and the J17s I saw going back down island...and there were others (the Cookies) ahead of them...
...and then the J17s turned around and came up island and past the park...
...and they continued to move up but they were foraging, socializing or whatever they wanted to do...I watched them in the distance until I got too cold in that wind and it was getting too dark...and then from home I continued to hear them over the Lime Kiln hydrophones until after 9:00 pm.!...it was a great day to listen in to the hydrophones the whales were on them just about all day long...and I wouldn't be surprised if they were on there all night long!
...now did Granny's group and the J11s continue north?...will have to wait and see who is where tomorrow!...They may actually lead more complicated lives than some humans might think!...
...added later: at 00:05 on October 2nd calls began coming over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...J pod calls...they got to be quite loud...I heard some K pod calls as well...since there were J and K whales down island still at 9:00 pm it could be them...but then the calls got like crazy...okay, I think Granny and the rest of them came back down and they were getting together...but since I was blinded by the darkness and had only one piece of information...once again wait until daylight...
