7-1-2020 K Pod - Two Matrilines Were Here

Wednesday, July 2nd

The K12s, Sequim's family unit of five, and the K13s, made up now of one brother, two sisters each with their male offspring, were present for a second day.
They spent the day along the bottom half of the island.  To keep it confusing and interesting they were coming up in the afternoon.  Only a few made it as far as the lighthouse.  They goofed around in front of the light and then turned and went back down island.

 ...this image was taken a couple miles south of the lighthouse, before they came up...so it's out of sequence...

...That night they evidently headed back out to the open ocean, as we have not seen them in here since.  There was a 2nd or 3rd hand report of them being seen on the outer coast, but I don't know if that is from this past week or from several weeks ago(which was a valid report)...
...the whales know where the food is and that is where we should want them to be.

It's once and for all time to

rise to the opportunity to

change the imbalance of the ocean to sea life.

7-1-2020 K Pod Here - Part 2

Wednesday, July 1st

...a continuation of the day (see prior post) 
...the K12s and K13s passed the lighthouse and continued up island...
...no wait...
...yes...
...no wait... !

...they had gone half way to the county park...and sometimes they all are close enough to shore that they cannot be seen from shore from either Lime Kiln Pt. Park or San Juan County Park - really!  
...so those, me included, headed to county park, thinking the whales were continuing north...
...nope they turned back south, then north again and eventually made a decision to go back down island...

...there were a zillion breaches as they approached the lighthouse...of course I missed them all because I was in my car, being as undecisive as the whales had been!

...I finally 'planted' myself at Land Bank in time to watch the whales going back down island...

...were they glad to be in their summer home?...were they glad to be going back down island where there was some salmon?

...the whales remained off the south end of the island for the rest of the day...

Is there enough salmon for them to stay?
Are they eating Chinook or what?

7-1-2020 Say What? - K Pod? Here? Yep!

Wednesday, July 1st  Part 1

...The K12s and the K13s were encountered by researchers at the far northern reaches of these inland waters.  The whales had entered from the north, coming through Johnstone Strait.  Two mornings later they passed by Lime Kiln lighthouse, undetected by anyone looking from shore...that was at about 8:45-9:00 a.m. 
...then I received a message  - I'm running!!! -(thank you very much!!) that whales were going down island...
...got to where I could see them in the distance...plus a couple other things too...

...the whales were spread out and continued down island...seems that those fishing boats also were wanting salmon...Leave it for the whales, PLEASE!
...get into the car and drive down island to see...they were there for a while and then began to head back up...still spread out...

...back in the car and back up island...the tide was flooding (going the same direction as the whales) giving the whales a bit of a 'ride' as they moved along...
...I got to the park and saw...

...which meant the researchers could see the whales and/or boats who were with them...
...which way to look?...she's looking directly down island...okay!...it was now 1:10...

...There's Eba...we saw them at South Beach...they are behind the whales a good distance...Eba the 'whale poo sniffing dog'.  Thanks Eba, Giles and Jim for gathering information!

...the K12s have two adult males - Rainshadow K-37 and Tika K-33

...the K13s have one adult male - Cali K-34 and one adult female who is often mistaken for a sprouting male...Spock K-20...

...not in that close but it didn't matter it was good to see them here...

...BUT that's not all of the day...it is only getting started...

...Part 2 of July 1 with K Pod whales will be my next post.

Hope you can enjoy being here virtually (sort of) during this time.

Stay safe...

8-20-16 An Orca-Filled Day

Saturday, August 20th
...it began at 5:15 a.m. when echolocation clicks came over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...a J Pod call or two I heard before running out the door...not sure just why - it was dark out there still...was able to see some as they moved up island...
... a few hours later more whales came up island...

...pause for a harbor seal...

...a couple more whales in the distance...

...it wasn't even 11:00 a.m. what would the rest of the day bring...

...

 

8-15-16 Out With the Current and Back In with the Current

Monday, August 15th
...yesterday three passbys at the lighthouse...today two passbys at the lighthouse...they went up past the lighthouse in the late afternoon, some were foraging...

...some going back down island before they even got anywhere up island...

...while others were still going up island...

...some were breaching...

...and one came in quite close to the light...

...and in the end the K12s and K13s went back down island, doing the 'west side shuffle' for the 2nd day in a row...

...it appears there is enough salmon for a small group of whales...
...and now it is appearing that they are taking turns as to who will be in here...
I remember when they did that back in 2008.
They are so smart...wish the humans were smart enough to take more actions to restore the wild stocks of salmon so that orca and man could jointly benefit...but it doesn't seem that the humans are as smart as killer whales...