10-6-18 Killer Whales at the Lighthouse Today

Saturday, October 6th
...the rain had come yesterday and today was a beautiful day...
...off to the lighthouse to talk to folks today and hope that J Pod might reappear...haven't seen them since they went north on Oct. 3rd...no telling where they are...but not seen nor heard from in the last few days...
...meanwhile some Ts showed up!  Now that was interesting...All of a sudden some boats began appearing from down island...
...it was the T49As and the T65As...both families have a teen/adult male...both families have a baby - one about a year old and the other about 5 months old...both families have a few other kids mixed in the middle...
...when they passed the lighthouse today, there were two who went by - 'middle-school' sized kids...a good distance behind them were the two 'big-boys'...and far offshore were the rest of them...and they were split into a couple groups for a while too...
...they went by at a steady pace but spread out...

...a woman told me that she had walked along the path from the parking lot to the 'wall' (at the south end of the park) not thinking she would see any whales - you know there is a sign that points to that path that says something about whale viewing...(ha-ha)!
...well, she is now officially spoiled...because no sooner did she get there is when the two 'big boys' surfaced right in front of her!!!

...while I was putting pics together tonight...I heard Ts over the Lime Kiln hydrophones for close to 2 hours...interrupted by some loud ship noise...but they were still there...it's now about 10:35pm and it's quiet now...no ship or killer whale calls...at the moment...but that can change at any time...

...hoping to hear J Pod - maybe?...will find out at some point...



 

4-15-18 Killer Whales Coordinating Meeting Places and Times?

Sunday, April 15th
...the hydrophones had been down from 9pm April 12th until the morning of April 14th...could J Pod or others have come by during that time - we will likely never know...
...so at 1:00 a.m. (middle of the night) Transient calls woke me up...they lasted about ten minutes...so when I got an invitation to go out on the Western Prince today, I thought "why, yes!"...I didn't expect those Ts would be located because it was eleven hours later when we left the dock in Friday Harbor...
...but with no wind, not much sun, and no rain (which was on its way for Monday), it would be nice to get out on the water...
...there was a report of a possible baleen whale off the the southeast, so we headed that way...well, we ended up being in the right place at the right time...never did see a baleen whale, but one of the captains notified Capt. Michael that there was a large group of killer whales headed our way!
...need I say more?!
...what a day!  We had heard about the new baby of, mom, T65A...and here that little one was! 

...and new baby lumpiness too...

...there was another baby, born last November whom I hadn't seen-belongs to the T49As - well got to see that baby today too...

...was that enough?  I guess not because...well here is the bigger story:  It's about T65A3. ...each year the T65As have been seen, 3rd offspring, T65A3 has been with the family...but this year, the first time we saw any of the T65As, it was only T65A3 and he showed up with T49C, an adult male and brother of T49A...common for males to disburse when they reach a certain age...however, T65A3 is much younger than expected to have done that.
So what were T49C and T65A3, doing together?
...and...
Where were the rest of the T65As? 

A friend suggested that maybe mom was having a baby so he had disbursed.  She might not have realized at the time that she would end up being right! This was yesterday and T65A3 is right in there with all his mother and younger siblings. T65A2 was present too, just not in this surfacing sequence.

So somewhere between April 6th and April 15th T65A3 got to meet his new sibling! 
T49C is usually seen either alone or with one other and somewhere between the 6th and the 15th he went on his way - somewhere.

Today the four families T36As, T49As, T65As, and T123s were traveling pretty tight, so not everyone would surface at the same time.  

...more to come, but here are a couple more images from the great encounter we had today...Thanks for the invite and to Capt. Michael, Katie and Elah and all those passengers for wanting to take a trip on the Western Prince today - WOW!

Notation: T49A1 had disbursed from his family early in 2017(some time after April)...his mother had a baby in November of 2017...it will be interesting to learn if he stays with his family now...I think it is more common for 1st born males to stay with their mother and subsequent born males to disburse...but that's what we think, not necessarily what they do...
Whether Southern Residents or Transients, they have a complex social structure, much more than most might think.

What might have gone on here? communication, coordination, meeting times and locations...and who knows what else might have been involved in this event...at least that is what I think.  
The whales don't just wander around and bump into one another along the way...well, maybe some do, just like us when we 'run into someone' we haven't seen in a while...

...but this was an event..
...so glad to get a glimpse into their world today.

...another note about coordinating:  there was some KOMO 4 (I think) helicopter video taken of the T137s in Puget Sound on April 9th...though it was not always easy to tell if they were actually directional or not...they looked like they were just waiting around...
...and sooooo...when Orca Network posted some images, that were taken by someone on April 10th, of the T137s approaching the T65As and that new baby T65A6 was in the image.

Now I wonder even more about the 

whales coordinating with each other.

6-6-17 A Day of the T65As

Tuesday, June 6th
...J Pod has not been seen since June 1st...
...Transients have been around...mostly up toward East Pt, etc. but not along the west side...
...the T65As were in Rosario Stait a few days ago, then up by East Pt. yesterday...on Monday, friends who were visiting and hoping to see the whales commented that maybe the T65As would make their way down along the west side...
..."hire that lady" - she was right!   The T65As were spotted late morning a few miles north of Lime Kiln...they slowly made their way down island...

...and it was on to the next spot...hope my friends got the message...

...the whales took so long to get to the park, my friends, whose last day on-island it was, made it in plenty of time...to spend hours of watching this group in front of the lighthouse for hours! We just moved from one picnic table to another - perfect -- whales in front of us the whole time :)

...the other present was T65A4 and is one of those active playful orcas. 

...there was a strong current running up island and the whales were going down island, which was so interesting...they would make progress of a few hundred yards surfacing several times, then dive for maybe five minutes...their next surfacing they were behind where they had been...at this point, after all that play, (and I think they had made a quick kill (lunch) before the play began)...they were now in a resting pattern...
...they have nowhere they have to be so they didn't care which way the tide was going...
...by about 5pm the whales had exited the park, still in a resting mode...I went to Land Bank and got a few moments of them...quiet, peaceful, calm waters, and their blows - just makes all you cares and worries go away for the moment...

 
 

4-15-17 T65As, T65Bs, and T49As

Saturday, April 15th
...just before leaving Friday Harbor on the Western Prince, Capt. Michael gets word of whales not too far in the distance...
...he waited until we were just about on scene to let everyone know...you know because it's never a guarantee until you actually see them!
Here's who we saw today...

...image above whale on the left - T65A2 has an interesting story that occurred back in April of 2013...link here...see how much smaller he was then and what went on...it wasn't  monumental but it was something that we humans don't get to see very often or perhaps ever before that or after...
...continuing with who we saw today...

...those open mouths!

...will this beautiful spring weather be here tomorrow?  

7-16-16 When One Meets His First Whale

Saturday, July 16th...J Pod and some L Pod whales were on the west side and stayed down island foraging all day long...and goofing around too...

...in the afternoon with the Residents out of view from shore and hearing of some transients in San Juan Channel...well, you know, off I went to see if I could see them...
...while waiting at Cattle Pass...

...the Ts were far...the T65As and the T37As, I heard...one of the whales in the T37A group had a bent dorsal fin...best I could do from a great distance...

...later in the day, back at Lime Kiln a few of the J Pod whales came up past the lighthouse...it was getting dark...almost too dark...

...sometimes you get to experience someone seeing their first orca...when that someone is in their twenties and has been fascinated by the orcas since being a little boy (he said)...well, it is nothing but very special to be able to watch the connection between human and whale being made...
...remember when you saw your first-ever orca?...special, wasn't it :)

4-30-16 Breaching Baby Humpback

Saturday, April 30th
...the last several days in April...
...the T65As and T65Bs (2 sisters and their offspring) were in Rosario Strait almost to the Annacortes Ferry Terminal on the 27th...

...the next day not seen and the next day, April 29th seen north near Sucia Island...and on the 30th they were on the west side of San Juan Island heading away...they do get around...that is just what the T65As (the T65Bs are not always with them) do at this time of year!

...on April 28th, the third day after J Pod had gone north they came back down...but they came down traveling through some very unusual places for them...Samsun Narrows then past the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal...and down through a very narrow pass (wish I could have seen that!), and on down the west side of Haro Strait...it was thought that all of J Pod was there...but they weren't!  
...someone 'picked up' the J16s as they were at the top end of Boundary Pass...and since the water was getting really nasty in Haro Strait...on Peregrine with Andy at the helm we headed to calmer water and the J16s...we met them just north of Java Rocks...Mike J-26 was by himself...and mom and the rest of the family in shore...

...we left them south of Blunden Island close to shore on the west side of Boundary Pass...we learned later that David and Barbara of All Aboard Sailing met them and last saw them on the east side of Boundary Pass near Ripple Island...
...so when on April 30th we hear of Residents way north off Texada Island...were those the J16s? (or could it have been some Northern Residents that far down?)
...because if not then it would be some Ks or Ls - Whoo-Hoo!  ...after all it is just about May and soon L Pod usually shows up in May...hoping! 

...also on April 28th another humpback returned to these waters, the first sighting of her this year...Big Mama - BCY0324...and she brought her new calf with her...Mark Malleson, who has tracked these humpbacks, said this is her 6th calf...
...so far she and the calf have been along the west side of San Juan Island for the last three days...
...day one with mom and new calf on Imagine with Spencer...Jeff and Debbie from Oregon were on the boat and since we stayed with the two humpbacks until another boat arrived, I told them they were now official humpback babysitters!

...day two...I watched from shore...

...day three - from the Peregrine - doing what baby humpbacks do!...and Jeff and Debbie came out on this trip too and boy did they get to really see that baby :)

...it may have been slow to begin and now all of a sudden...just like Big Mama and her calf and their energetic actions...spring has arrived !

Now we need to see salmon coming in here.  One thing I have noticed over the last three days is more birds congregating and loud = food is in here...according to the areas I have seen...not enough yet ...hope it's a start...
 

 

5-15-15 Part 1 - The T65As and A New Boat Driver

Friday, May 15th
6:00 a.m. "are those whales?" ...what was coming over the Lime Kiln hydrophones was extremely faint...and then...yes!...it was transients...the calls lasted only a few minutes and that was it...
...out for an afternoon trip with Capt. David at the helm, there had been no reports of whales...however, as it sometimes happens, we had only gone a mile or two when someone spotted whales and they were close..while on our way...

...there were two groups...
...we stayed with the T65As for a while...they seemed to be working on making a kill...perhaps there was some training involved as well...
...T65A and her youngest T65A5...

...all of them together...T65A, T65A2, T65A3, T65A4, and T65A5...

...T65A2, oh...his dorsal fin is getting wobbly...

...this was a great angle to see his fin...

 

 ...my favorite of the day!  

Trying out for a boat driver position

...this newish notch is pinker than I would expect it to be after several weeks...then again, I don't see new nicks and get to watch the healing stages either...so what do I know on this...not much!

...after they began to travel again we headed up to see Chainsaw T63 and his companions - T65 (T65A's mother) and T65B and T65B1...
...they were taking long dives and we just never knew where they would surface next...and then...
...that will be in part 2...next post...