7-25-17 Grab Your Binocs

Tuesday, July 25th

Grab your binoculars and go to the shore line and see...

...those images taken from 'the wall' at Lime Kiln Pt. State Park this morning...people were coming down and looking...looking out...looking for the 'big things'...but when they were directed to look closer and look down...some were quite amazed at what they saw!
...I couldn't show them whales...at that time I didn't even have a clue where they were...but I could show them the 'tiny things'...
...often those 'tiny things' are what gets ignored, when in fact so much depends on the 'tiny things'... (look down at the shore wherever you are to see what you can see...)

...some of the big things some folks saw yesterday and again today, not only from Lime Kiln but also from County Park, and from their sounds I think they liked those 'big things' too... :)
Monday...

Tuesday...

...and L Pod...well they came down last night...I heard them over the Lime Kiln hydrophones at about 11pm...they headed back west today...
...but maybe they will be back sooner...lots more gulls today and cormorants too, even some harbor porpoise, a minke whale, and let's not forget those 'tiny things' and the 'big things'...they are all connected.
...and J Pod, well they are still in the Salish Sea but not where you could see them from shore today...some folks on boats got to see them...maybe tomorrow J Pod will come our way...
...let's hope the salmon will be abundant enough for J Pod to stay...
 
 

6-7-15 At Least One Gave Us Proof of Catch!

Sunday, June 7th

Read all about it! Click here...
Buy a T-Shirt to help support the SRKW Chinook Salmon Initiative.

...L pod whales had left the scene - going west...J pod had come by the lighthouse - waking me up at 5:15 a.m.almost too dark for pictures...but thank you very much Mike J-26!

 

...J pod was far to the north by trip time...ah, some transients were seen in the Saanich Inlet...search as many did, they were not relocated until too late...

...but then we learned that J pod had turned and was coming back this way...they were still pretty far north...we met them in the Strait of Georgia miles north of the Patos Lighthouse...

...

...and they were foraging - a lot!

...one day does not solve the salmon issue, but at least it was
one of day it looking like they were getting lots to eat...

...Have you read and signed the petition to get the lower four Snake River Dams breached?
The stack of signatures is going to Washington, D.C.  Please have your name on it for the sake of you, your kids, grand kids, the whales, and the ecosystem...

5-22-15 The Shot of the Day - A Gull?

Friday, May 22nd
...My shot of the day! Starting at the end of the day, sitting on the rocks at Lime Kiln a gull was flying by, normal, but then it seemed to make a few circles  - three fish!...gulls are usually gobbling up every little fish they can right on the spot, so to see one carrying fish around like this...maybe it was taking food to its chicks...I wonder where that nest might be...

...as usual during 'whale season' everyone was wondering where the whales would be this morning...two groups yesterday...had they really split?...possibly...not uncommon for the J16s to be off on their own this spring...
...then someone spotted 'J pod' up near East Pt....however, when we arrived on scene, and after talking with others, it was only the J16s who were present...
...Echo J-42 seems to have grown a lot in the last few months, or maybe it's just the angle of her when seen in this image...

...Slick J-16 and 'CatchUp' (my nickname for J-50) were actually together...they were spread out...it seemed they were foraging but no one 'showed' us a salmon so I couldn't be sure :)...
...I love the contrast of big fin/little fin...

...in the middle of it all someone spotted a humpback so we raced over to see Big Mama...we came back over to see the J16s before leaving...Echo began this...

...I wonder if she knew something we didn't...the rest of J pod was coming from 'out of the blue'...always so neat when least expected!

..I enlarged those splashes to reveal whales!
...Capt. Jim had mentioned about how sometimes there is a photo op of Patos lighthouse and a whale...well, what do you know!  Thank you Blackberry J-27!

...Granny J-2, Onyx L-87, Blackberry J-27, and Mako J-39 were together...
...here's the Center for Whale Research documenting those present...

...the presence of J-27 and J-39 - Group B whales, and J-2 and L-87 - Group A whales, indicated that it was most likely all of J pod was soon to be present...they were heading down...would they make it to the park????
...first it was County Park...(between the sign and the ship - look close)

... and then Lime Kiln...

...doesn't get much better than this...
...oh, except for that gull!  AMAZING!

...and while writing this post I was listening to J pod over the Lime Kiln hydrophones...

4-4-15 Orcas Had Lunch At the Park Two Days In A Row

Saturday, April 4th

...yesterday, Friday April 3rd, J pod came down from the north...
...funny story:  Two days before, on Wednesday, I had been invited to participate with a group on Friday at 11:30.  As soon as she told me the time, I declined and said "oh, the whales will be here then."  Of course I was joking!  But after having left a friend at a restaurant once before and another to get her own ferry out of here...well, I have known for a long time to not make any plans because that's when the whales will show up!
...Okay, on Friday they were two minutes late!  11:32 a.m. the burst into chatter over the Orca Sound hydrophones...and I laughed the rest of the day! 

...on Friday, J pod was spread for miles...even though I saw how far off shore they were from County Park, I still went to Lime Kiln...
...by now it was lunchtime...Princess Angeline J-17 and her boy Moby J-44 were the only two IDable whales...the seas were really nasty, I heard it was 3 to 4 footers out there...

...Princess Angeline J-17 and Moby J-44 had SALMON for lunch!

...then today, Saturday, April 4th...Transient killer whale calls woke me up at about 4:50 this morning...but it wasn't until about noon when things began to get interesting...I hear tjat whales are coming up the west side...so, out the door and to the park...
...there were five whales, coming up island...they stalled out just to the down island side of where I was...and they were about to have lunch!
wow- they were so close it was quite wild...Transients don't usually come in really close especially at the park and these are the closest I think I might have ever seen Transients at the park...and to top it off they take a harbor seal!

...and here's what they were about to have for lunch today...

...that harbor seal was about to contribute to the well being of those five whales...and possibly, on a very small scale, contribute to the well being of the Southern Residents by not being around to eat their salmon!
...I thought that was guts this youngster was carrying along, but on closer look it was just sea grass...yep, they will play with the left overs, sometimes that is...

...you can see they were actually coming in closer to shore...

...as they got to just about in front of the lighthouse...I had seen a harbor seal just before all this kerfuffle went on...

...one of the whales came zooming back...

...then a Steller sea lion lunges to get the heck out of there! But the whales didn't seem to be after the Steller...perhaps it was another harbor seal.

...it was momentary...the whales had just had a meal and whether they got a quick 'snack to go' or not I couldn't tell...
...I got to County Park just in time to see them coming up and going on by...much farther offshore and all grouped up...

...Lunch at the lighthouse, two days in a row...will there be a third...?