One Day Joy the Next Day Shock & Sadness

August - one day joy and the next shock & sadness.

J Pod & the L12s were last seen in the inland waters on July 4th and last seen heading west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on July 5th. K Pod & the rest of L Pod had not come all the way in to Haro Strait yet this season. Now, 8/17, members of J, K & L pods were incoming!

It was mid-afternoon when they were seen coming up island toward Lime Kiln lighthouse. They didn't just pass by.  Instead for the next few hours there were very many energetic whales. It had been a long time since seeing such a large grouping with lots of behaviors during an extened time, going up-island & a few minutes later the same group going back down...no, wait!...they changed direction again...and again.  At times it was challenging to keep up with all the social and energetic SRKWs. They seemed to be celebrating their return.  They know the Lime Kiln lighthouse area and often come in close to shore, passing through kelp, where salmon will often be. It appeared that a large amount of salmon had come in and most of them eventually followed the salmon north. A few images to show some of what occurred:

While so many people were glad to see the SRKWs back in the inland waters, it wasn't known that Lolita, aka Tokitae, was dying. There was great anticipation that she was coming 'home' to the Pacific Northwest after 53 years in captivity, but for some reason it wasn't to be. It came as a shock to all. There has been anger, sadness, shock, lots of questions as to why? - Why was she doing so well and all of a sudden gone? So many have written many wonderful words honoring Tokitae. 

If each of us are willing to look back... look at what she taught you over many years. There's a saying 'each one teach one'.  Yep, that's what she had done all these years but did we notice?  She is free now and her spirit will carry on and perhaps cause positive changes for those who care to think deeply about what she 'gave each of us' even if you have never been to see her. She will live on in our hearts and perhaps 'ah-ha' moments will cause you to smile because you just realized what she was teaching you. 

Nice Surprise from J & L Pod Whales

 It began with the whales far offshore. It was January 20. There were not many vocals, but it was clear they were SRKWs and likely J Pod.  It wasn't possible to tell how many.

Some L Pod whales were with J Pod!!

6-20-18 Js and Ls All Day Long

Wednesday, June 20th
First a note: Going from zero sightings of the SRKWs to non-stop, sometimes taking 2,000 images in a day, well, it was overload.  In addition it was troubling that Crewser L-92 was not in any of my images on that first day, because even from miles offshore he was easily identified. Then word came from the Center for Whale Research that he had died.  I couldn't post anymore, at least for a while.

So here's a recap until I can get my blog posts caught up:  J Pod and many L Pod whales returned on June11th...J Pod having been gone an unusually long time, 2 months and 2 days, and L Pod making their first appearance for this season which is not unusual for this time of year.  Some were here for several days, leaving for the open ocean on the 16th.  On the 19th they were seen closer, near Sooke, foraging and then headed west in the afternoon.  So when they showed up today, June 20th, off Hein Bank, well that was a surprise.


Today: It was late morning when J Pod was encountered offshore from the south end of the island...they made their way up to Lime Kiln lighthouse starting at about noon...and it lasted until 6:30pm.- no joke.  Yes, there were a few lulls, but they didn't last long...
Shachi J-19, Hy'Shqa J-37, and T'ilem I'nges J-49 went by first...they were foraging to the north of the park...then along came Eclipse J-41 and Nova J-51...way offshore was Onyx L-87...they continued on their way, but we wondered if they would turn and come back down (they didn't).
...next to come along were some L Pod whales!...word was that it was J Pod, but Crewer's group was still with J Pod...
...when going through images it came to the forefront that it was Group A (most of them) who had gone north,  the J16s in the middle of the hours-long spread, and Group B who had stayed south with the L Pod whales - WOW!  Didn't think I would see them split like that again...at least for the day...

from today June 20th: some images you'll see them going left-to-right and others right-to-left...that's what they did all day long, except for the lead group who kept on going north...by the end of the day they had all gone north...

...3:30pm

 ...6:30pm

...will catch up on previous days...at some point...


 

6-11-18 Southern Residents Return

Monday, June 11th

...everyone was surprised when J Pod and many L Pod whales showed up in the early morning...it had been a long time since they were in the inland waters...
...a few came up island at about 7 a.m. to Lime Kiln and then turned and went back down island...then at 8:40 the whales started to come up again...only to turn and go back down island again!

...then at about 10:15 they came up, Shachi J-19 in the lead(not shown on this clip)...they were spread out, close to shore and moved north passing the park...

...there is much more to the day...this was only the beginning... will add to this post until I get the day completed...

 

8-3-16 They Passed By the Park in the Early Evening

Wednesday, 8-3-16
...(I've missed some days and will fill them in soon)..
...now back to today!
...in coming whales all day long...last time they made it in here it was in the middle of the night...this time it was still daylight when they came across from Discovery Island toward San Juan Island...sometimes they will go down island and sometimes up...
...this time they chose UP!!...it was a very strong current going up and the whales sure took advantage of it...they appeared to be using the current to take them along but at the same time they were not zooming through as they can...so that indicates to me that they were conserving energy as were heading up...that is except for Echo and Scarlet!
...in the lead - well - what do you know! Alki J-36 and Sonic J-52 - again!  They have been up front way ahead of the rest of their family group several times now...
...Hy' Shqa J-37 and several others surprised us by surfacing just passed the lighthouse...didn't know they were even in the area but later saw they had made some really loud calls as they passed by quite close to shore...
...Granny J-2, Shachi J-19 were more in the middle of the whales who were spread from in close to way off shore...off from Shachi was Eclipse J-41 and Nova J-51...
...Princess Angeline's J-17 family was quite a ways offshore...I got a glimpse of Polaris's notch and saw her little one, J-54, and a few others, but they were too far off to ID all of them...the sun created back lighting which didn't help matters...
...also offshore were the L4s - Nugget L-55, and with her was Lapis L-103, baby L-123, and Finn L-116 - Nugget's grandoffspring...Finn's mother was not traveling right with them...
...there was a lot of echolocating...didn't see much foraging though...
...Mako was in the middle of it, his brother way offshore...
...also in about the middle were the rest of the J16 family...Slick J-16 was in the lead, Echo J-42 and Scarlet J-50 were goofing around and behind them was Mike J-26...
...Moonlight L-83 and Midnight L-110 were together and with them was baby L-122...I had seen Muncher L-91 surfacing without her calf, and was relieved to see the calf with Moonlight and Midnight...
...the last whale to pass by was Crewser L-92...

...all in all it appeared that all family groups of J Pod were present and that the 19 whales of L pod who travel together were here...but I'm not sure if I saw Racer L-72 and her offspring Fluke L-105...they may have passed by with that group in the beginning who surfaced past us, but I'm not sure...Racer and Fluke were not with the other Ls when they came in the last time, so they might have stayed out again this time...just don't know for sure...
some images from the pass by:

...they continued north...it sounded as though they were taking a route common to them and heading toward the Fraser River...

7-14-16 Lime Kiln Shoreline and the Orcas!

Thursday, July 14th
...L pod whales had come in the night before...
...it was mid afternoon before some of them came north...
...the J11s-Blackberry J-27, Tsuchi J-31, and Mako J-39 were reported to be present! (They had not returned with Group B of J Pod on July 8th and many wondered what might be going on.)
...we don't know what was going on...they are here now...and we'll see who they stay with...

...J Pod whales were coming down from the north...see prior post about their stunning travels along the west side, as they moved on up...
...some of the L4s, L26s, L47s, and L72s (19 whales) are the whales that came up island...the J11s and the L12s remained down island...
...those 19 L Pod whales moved up past Lime Kiln and met J Pod as they came down island...they met up off County Park and down island they went...
...once again it was another amazing encounter...here are a few images from the day at Lime Kiln...

.

...there were some lunges, some circling...but were they foraging or socializing...maybe some of both!
...salmon are here...hopefully there will be more arriving and enough to bring in the rest of L Pod and K Pod...