6-25-19 Transients All Over SRKWs Absent

Tuesday, June 25
...the transients continue to have a big presence...
...it's likely because the Southern Residents have been out to the open ocean... now 50 days.


...in the late morning, whales came up island, far from shore, but fun to see them, the T101s...
...then later more whales were coming up island...
...trying to see them as they pass Friday Harbor...

 

...they were still going up but they were out in the middle of the channel...hmmm...go to the next spot or not?...well, why not...

...the whales turned again and continued to head up, passing between Green Pt. on the east end of Spieden Island and Flat Top island...
...there were reports of Transients being in at least 4 different locations during the day, and of course those locations changed during the day...

6-20-19 Killer Whales on the West Side Today

Thursday, June 20
...what began as a quiet day and a list of things to get done, ended up very differently...

...for a day that began as quiet as it did, it sure ended up full of unexpected things...
...the group of whales are the T124As and one or two others in this group.  There were three other groups in other various places today too.

4-8-17 Baby Killer Whale T124A-6 and Family

Thursday, April 8th
...on the Western Prince we get word shortly before leaving the dock that killer whales were spotted far, far to the north...but they were coming south...but it was really, really far...we headed that way...the those whales kept coming our way...
...we met up with the whales...first one seen was T123A - of course - with his tall dorsal fin...there were several more all females and offspring...and all coming our way...
...but soon T123A, his mom and sibling split off...

...four others continued coming...

...and what a surprise - new baby, I believe first seen in January 2017...notice the yellowish tinge, an indicator of a young one.  It is believed to be related to their liver function when young...could be similar to jaundice in humans...

This calf is the 6th offspring of T124A.  T124A is the mother and T124 is the grandmother!  In the transient community it is common for females, when they start their family, to travel off on their own and with others.  Sometimes they are seen with their direct family members and other times with other transients, usually who have young ones.  i.e. young mothers and their kids like to spend time together! (The Transient IDing system for the community of Ts (aka Biggs killer whales) that we see always relates back to the matriarch of the family. In this case T124.  T124A, B, C, etc. are offspring. If any of those have offspring, T124A-1, -2, -3, etc. and to add to that T124A-2 had an offspring and her first offspring is T124A-2A...It may sound very confusing but it sure comes in handy when identifying whales of this transient community because they don't travel in any set groups.

The family group of the T124s is really big and every once in a while they are all together which is really neat to see.
But on this day, everyone who got to see T124A-6 ...well just know that was extra special! 

7-19-14 They Were Spread Across the Strait

Saturday, July 19th
...with all three pods miles to the north and the Strait of Georgia with big, big seas...it was time for plan B...that would be Transients...and wasn't that nice that a group of 11 Ts showed up!
...on Maya's Westside Charters we met the Ts in Rosario Strait...and as luck would have it the whales traveled to the north and west heading in the best direction for us, since we had come a long way...

...the Transients (aka Bigg's killer whales) were the T124As, minus T124A1 who is not always seen with the family, the T137s, and T77A who is a sprouter male and who has dispersed (as the researchers call it) from his family...this is common with the whales in this transient community...
...T124A2 and T124A4 giving these folks an exciting moment...

...on the way back to the harbor we had a few interesting encounters with some harbor seals...

...later in the day the Residents were coming down Boundary Pass so we thought we would go see them...Capt. Jim. first spotted some whales porpoising toward us...

...and zoom on by they did...Nugget L-55, Takoda L-109, Scoter K-25, Skagit K-13 and several others going too fast to capture but a few images...

...Cappuccino K-21, Opus K-16, and Sonata K-35 (aka the K Klik) were out in the middle of Haro Strait...

...though there were over 60 whales coming down Haro Strait, they were spread for miles across the strait... 
...after getting back I headed for the park, making it in time to see the whales go by...

...and some remained...

6-15-14 And What A Whale Day It Was!

Sunday, June 15th
...In Coming!  J pod whales are coming back in...would it be the same group or would others accompany them?...I could hardly wait to find out...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters as Granny J-2 and Onyx L-87 were in the lead...with them were the J14s...surfacing in front of the lighthouse were J-14 and J-45...

...approaching the lighthouse from Land Bank was J-27...

...as the whales moved up island...someone breached!

...since the whales were 'hugging' the rocks and the seas were quite rough we decided to go to the other side of Haro Strait where some Ts were...
...earlier the T65As and the T124As were seen coming down Boundary Pass, they weren't spotted again for a few hours and turned up not far from Kelp Reef area going down island...the J pod whales had come across from Discovery and the Ts ended up at Beaumont Shoals...
...when the J pod whales came up island I saw Granny J-2, Onyx L-87, Shachi J-19, Eclipse J-41, Samish J-14 and her kids and her grand kid, and Blackberry J-27...we left them near Open Bay and went across to see the T124As...

...then back across again to see the Residents as they were nearing Stuart Island...Onyx L-87 and Granny J-2 were the two nearest us, the others spread to the east...

...we heard there were three whales down island from us and since we had to go that way to get home, we'd look...but we never did see them...
...when I got home I learned that some other whales had passed by Lime Kiln heading up so I'd wait to see if I could see them...thinking it was some of the J pod whales...WRONG - it was the T65As!...when they had split from the T124As they had come over to False Bay...

...I heard them over the Lime Kiln hydrophones and then the Orca Sound hydrophones as they continued north and learned at about 7pm, from Kim and Karl at Lonesome Cove Resort that they had gone through Spieden Channel (west to east) and headed down San Juan Channel toward Friday Harbor...
...but that wasn't all from the whales today...
...at about 5:30pm I heard echolocation clicks over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...up island came the J16s and the J22s (or J10s or The Cookies)...

...they were far offshore...I tuned in to the Orca Sound hydrophones... I originally figured they were going to continue to go up island, but when they didn't fade off I decided I had better go look...so off to County Park I went...they had stalled out near the Center for Whale Research and County Park for about two hours, before going back down island against a strong flood tide...
...that's Low Island, off County Park, with the sign on it...

...as I was about to get in my car to leave I turned and saw this...

...sitting on that log at County Park watching the whales - Priceless!
...I got home and watched the whales...they began to get into a group and head down island...I just had to go to Lime Kiln Pt. State Park and see what they might do next...

...as they came down island I questioned myself as to who I was seeing...it seemed like too many female dorsal fins, but they were just too far to get very many IDs....I wonder...

...one group to the north, another down island, another off amongst the southern Canadian Islands, and others going down San Juan Channel - 

Now that's what I call a giant whale hug for everyone!

...oh, and earlier in the day 

the L12s and the J17s 

were seen in 

the Strait of Juan de Fuca

...but going west I was told...