12-29-19 Pacific White-sided Dolphins

Sunday Dec 29th
...well the day began at about 5:15 a.m. when a very loud humpback whale was practicing his song...that makes it about the 10th time since late October that I have recorded one...every time it's been IN THE DARK!...

...the day continued on, when at about 11:00 a.m. IN THE DAYLIGHT! - a male singing humpback...that's the first time I have recorded one during daylight!!
...scanned and scanned but could not locate...he was distant but I was hoping I could catch a glimpse of his exhale...
...then a bit later I learned there were some humpbacks off Trial Island, and I wondered if maybe that humpback had been in Baynes Channel. (If it had been in Baynes Channel and had come far enough east it is a straight shot to the Lime Kiln hydrophones.)...but I'll not likely never know.

...okay, on about the day...lots of people at Lime Kiln today...brighter than yesterday, flat calm water...someone noticed something, close to shore, coming up island toward the lighthouse...
...at first...hmmmm...
...and then...and then...very short clip and not very clear but...

...here's a bit closer look...the image is actually quite large (click on image to enlarge)...
...see if you can figure out how many were there...
...a couple clues:
  -at least one has an indentation or two along its back, behind the dorsal fin.
  -all those notches, of course.

 

...not common to see LAGS (their nick name - which is the first 4 letters of their long scientific name)...so close to shore, just passing by quietly...

...and now since that singing humpback was out there making some very high pitched sounds in the late morning...I'm now wondering if maybe it was the lags!

...lots of fun and most people there today hadn't ever seen any Pacific White-sided Dolphins before...

...I decided they were a 'good omen' for 2020!

12-7-15 Were Those Pacific White Sided Dolphins?!

Monday, December 7th
...late morning, while just arriving in town, I hear that 'orca' - 1?, 10? how many? don't know...were seen near Sidney Island...well if it was the Residents who I think went up in the wee hours on 12-5, then I wanted to find out...U-turn and on my way back...
...just as I charge in the door I hear what sounds like 'chirping birds' on the Orca Sound hydrophones...but it lasted only a few seconds...hummm...
...scanning along the west side revealed nothing especially with the seas not so nice and the rain coming down...
...however, I was now recording...later on I looked and there on the Lime Kiln hydrophones were 4 additional times of those 'chirping birds' sounds!...I was quite surprised...so they were there between 11:30 on Orca Sound and the last over Lime Kiln at 1:45, each time for only a few seconds...

...It sounds like it was LAGS - Pacific White sided dolphins...which would be really neat...they have shown up here in December in the last few years...
...here's what I heard:

...maybe someone will spot them, that is when the seas decide to calm down, because right now it would be near impossible to tell Lags from white caps!

...winter hydrophones...excellent!
 

2-14-15 K and L Pod Whales Appeared Today

Saturday, February 14th
...out on Maya's Westside Charters today...and no sooner do we leave the dock, we find we are heading west to catch up to a large group of whales...just spotted...and thought to be transients...NOT...it was members of K and L pods!  And they were going west (away from here)...when/how far did they come in when did they turn to leave?...doubt we'll ever know the answer to that except from maybe a fisherman who might have seen them 'in the act'...

It's not uncommon for the whales to show up in February and not make it all the way to Haro Strait before turning around...they were already past Race Rocks and almost to Secretary Island...and we were on our way hoping the whales would slow their departing pace...

...the farther we went the nicer it got...more sunshine and the seas for the Strait of Juan de Fuca - fabulous today...
on scene:

...the whales were spread for miles across and were not necessarily traveling in their family groups...for example: 
Yoda K-36 and Pooka L-106 were traveling together for a while...and then Pooka and his mom, Surprise! L-86 were traveling together...

...Sekiu K-22, Tika K-33, and Crewser L-92 were traveling together...
...Nyssa L-84 and a Pacific white sided dolphin were traveling together...

...then the Pwsd moved over to Ino L-54...

...off in the distance someone started breaching...one of the kids, but too far away to get an ID of which juvenile it was...

..

...at one point the K14s seemed to be traveling together, for a while that is...then with Surprise! L-86 and Pooka L-106, who a short while ago were with Kasatka L-82 and Finn L-106...
...as they were passing us, Kelp K-42 breached...

...I thought maybe he was the one who was breaching before but the eye patches are different...

...there were whales a mile or more south of us who we never got to, but it was sure neat to see their distant blows backlit by the sunshine...and there were whales close to a mile from us, closer to shore, who we didn't ever see...
...and the last whale we saw was Ballena L-90 and in the distance the Sheringham lighthouse - check out the lighthouse via the link...some of the images are stunning.

...according to us humans the whales were all mixed up today, but according to the whales they knew exactly where everyone was, including us!

2-9-15 Pacific White Sided Dolphins!

Monday, February 9th
...a long stretch, no Southern Residents cause there's no food...not in these parts anyway...that could change...there's always hope!

...ships and noisy harbor seals was about all that I heard over the hydrophones for a long time now...until...

...close to 5:00 a.m. this morning...two times over about a two minute span...Pacific white sided dolphins!...here's all I heard over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...I cut out the blank space in the middle so this about 25 seconds...that's all...

...last year on March 17, 2014 I also recorded Pacific white sided dolphins...and used that to compare this recording to...a link to that blog post...
...there really is animal life out there!

10-20-14 An Unexpected October Day

Monday, October 20th
...no morning-warning sky this morning...too much fog to even see it...
...but by the time we left the dock on Maya's Westside Charters the fog had receded...one of the young passengers was keeping out a 'fog watch'...and luckily she was able to 'report' that it had gone away!
...in its place were whales, orcas, killer whales...and what a surprise it was...

...at first I only saw L pod whales...

...whales had been spotted earlier in the day near Discovery Island coming in...

..well, not all Ls...those who have been briefly seen this year, once again did not make an appearance...the L12s, the L54s and Nyssa L-84 and Wave Walker L-88 who travel with the L54s... 
...they came over to the west side, up island...then down...and now up again...

,,,love this!

...the whales continued up island slowly...a large group in shore...

...Surprise! L-86, Pooka L-106, and Ophelia L-27 were off shore and behind the larger group...

...there were a few others farther behind them - Cappuccino K-21 was one of them...
...Fluke L-105 and Sonata K-35 were playing around a lot...look at Fluke's scratches..

...now check out the other side! yikes...he has had some of these for a long time...and in fact the newer ones he had on the 18th...

...Sonata K-35...his mom was present and Cappuccino - so the K Klik is here!

...we heard of a humpback whale across the way and with this glassy water...well, we were on our way...

...and then back to the harbor...I could see the whales were still coming up island...

...I thought I would hop off the boat and run to County Park...but Capt. hadn't told me we were going back out again with some other passengers...gee, we were all about to be very lucky people...again...
...just out of the harbor we can see the whales coming up...now wait...

...then it looked like Dall's porpoise!  - NO! I was Pacific white sided dolphins - LAGS!

...check out the satin water...it was like that all afternoon...

...it was getting late...the clouds were heavy, but "look there's a rainbow!" someone said...

...and the whales were approaching...would the rainbow last when the whales got there???...you could have felt the suspense on the boat!
Thank you Moonlight L-83 and Midnight L-110 (how appropriate) for being right where you were!

...a few more minutes...a sailing ship in the distance catching some of the last of the sun...

...one last one...

...later I looked back to see if this was normal for just these L pod whales (a group of four families) to be here...from what I can tell it's not an 'ah-ha' moment!...that is unless you want to count the K Klik as one!
...in the October months in the last several years, this group of Ls has been around the San Juan Islands a time or two each October...that is not counting when they have gone into Puget Sound or when Js and Ks have been present with them...
...and K Klik?...well, they are an independent group and have been seen in here in October as well...I remember in 2008 all of K pod was here, but Cappuccino K-21 was not with them...he was off with Ls!

...sorry this post is so long...

...it was such a fun day...

...hope you feel like you were 

out there with the whales today...

10-4-14 Twelve Thousand Pounds of Cuteness

Saturday, October 4th
...middle of the night calls over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...I heard a specific K pod call...so I figured it was probably the K Klik, J Pod and Onyx L-87...but one can never be sure...then, no whales seen until late morning, when all of a sudden there they showed up near Lime Kiln coming up island...
...Granny J-2 and her group were in the lead...by the time I got to the park I had missed them..but off in the distance little J-49 breached - pretty neat, eh?

...soon others approached...the J17s, the J16s, some of the Cookies...etc...and there were some Pacific white sided dolphins zooming around the whales! - that's now day 14 in a row for Lags to be here!

...off to the boat...arriving at Snug Harbor I see booms set out...uh, oh...but it was a practice drill...whew!

...out on Maya's Westside Charters to see whales...and they weren't very far...like right outside of the harbor...and the Lags were coming up too...they were zooming in and out around the whales and the boats...

...we got excited to see some Grebe's...a winter bird for around here...

...oops, almost didn't get out of Cookie J-38's way!

...in the middle of our travels Capt. Jim spotted something...upon closer look - lookie here...this might be the leftovers from the Transients' breakfast yesterday morning...not sure what animal it had been, but it sure looked pretty big...the whales don't eat the lungs or the ribs...

...we saw Tucker at work...

...the whales were moving slow but steadily up...Princess Angeline J-17 spyhopped at one point...

..whenever I see this boat I think of family I have who live in Homer...

...it poured rain for a short while...just long enough to get good and wet...and then the skies cleared...
...Cappuccino K-21 surfaced coming toward us...one of the passengers said he was 'cute'...I replied with "cute?...he's about 12,000lbs of cute...and about two minutes later he showed us how 'cute' he can be!...

...what? does he hear what we are saying??? !

...on the way back to the harbor...

...I know Jackson was amazed at the Pacific white sided dolphins as they swam along the front and sides of the boat...he then was wanting the killer whales to do that too...once explained the size of the whales in comparison to the size of the boat. I think he decided it was okay if they didn't!

10-3-14 Let's Go Surfing!

Friday, October 3rd
...4:14 a.m. wake up call...that is from the transients over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...I thought they wouldn't last very long...Ts are usually that way...2 hours later they finally had faded off the hydrophones...
...it sounded like they might be getting breakfast!

...they faded off the hydrophones before daylight...and they were not located by the afternoon...
...that group from yesterday had nine whales...they might have split up again, like they had done yesterday, and therefore more difficult to detect...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters we headed over to Victoria area to see if we could see a humpback and while on the way we heard that some Pacific white sided dolphins were spotted - I think that is now 13 days in a row...and they don't look like they are going anywhere...but just like the Ts disappearing the Lags (Pacific white sided dolphins) could do that too...
...no two encounters are ever alike and what the Lags did today was so cool...surfacing the stern wave, cruising along just under the surface for long moments at a time...

...late in the day we hear that there are a lot of whales (assuming Residents) - in coming...and the Transients from yesterday were spotted - out going! 

10-1-14 Marathon Day of Whales Along the West Side

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...

9/22-24/14 Going In Circles

Monday, September 22nd
...on the way to the Strait of Georgia to see J pod Capt. Jim spotted a bird zooming around, chasing gulls...what was it?...
...the bird was extraordinarily fast...and could descend and ascend making very tight turns...and the captain was going in circles fast, while I was in the back leaning from one side to the other to try to get pictures of this unknown to us bird!

...that's a first for me...had never even heard of it before...

...the next day we went in circles again, this time with a large number of Pacific white sided dolphins...what a great encounter off the Victoria waterfront...

...and over the last several days there have been several humpback whales in the area...
...Split Fin is easy to identify and today this humpback spent a good portion of the day traveling up and down the west side of San Juan Island, mainly in view from Lime Kiln Pt. State Park, up island or down island...

...and going down...it seemed that she too was going in circles...

...that's the longest time I've ever watched a humpback whale!

...early this morning 9-24 I recorded over the Lime Kiln hydrophones what I think was a humpback whale vocalizing in some manner...not a song, but more like grunts and groans...I've sent the recording off to the experts to let me know if I'm totally off base or not...
...here's what I heard over the Lime Kiln hydrophones:

...next post I'll catch up on the Residents for the last few days...