6-21-2020 For All the Dads

6-13-2020 Transient Orca Encounter at Lime Kiln

Saturday, June 13th

...I wanted to title this post:  "You've Got to be Kidding!"
here's why...

...I was standing on the north side of the lighthouse watching the clouds and wondering what the sunset might be like tonight (every night it has been pretty awesome)...

...see that far point on the right?...that's the point at the north end from the lighthouse where the island makes a bit of a turn and if there are whales beyond there and if they are in close to shore you won't see them until they get to the point...

...I had seen a blow or two beyond that point and then waited...nice!...not sure who or how many, so I waited...

...there was no one around...but then I heard a couple people sounding excited or happy...I guessed they had seen the whales approaching...

...the couple came from the front side of the lighthouse and she asked, "seen anything?"  My reply:  "You've got to be kidding." ...and I pointed for them to look...as they did this happened!

 ...I love seeing the orcas and I love it even more when this happens for anyone who doesn't carry the expectation...it was sheer joy for them !!

...at this point the whales were north of the lighthouse and in close to shore, but I think they were still out of visual range via the webcam that sits up on the hill to the north.  

...and then what did they do?   ha!

...off to the car... 

...and down island they went...the T123s and the T046B1s.

...nice...

5-12-2020 And the Critters as Saying

5-8-2020 Wild Flowers and Whales

May 8th

Out the door to gather some flowers,
  not sure what I might find.
The sun was shining, the air was still,
I had nothing else on my mind.

A walk I was taking not far from the shore,
  my camera was 'picking' from flowers galore.
There was hardly a boat anywhere to be seen,
  the seas were calm so what did those white caps
   out there mean?

Glad the camera had already 'gathered' many colors,
  for what came next were are not considered to be colors.
What's that I see, no it surely couldn't be,
  it's been so long since orcas have come along.

I watched and waited to see which way they might go,
  so far from shore it was hard to know.
My ears picked up the sound of someone closer in,
  could there be more, but no other dorsal fins.

They crossed Haro Strait at a good pace,
  it didn't matter though cause there was no race.
A boat zoomed up passing the submerged whales,
  moments later a high speed u-turn, it seldom fails.

A kayak was slowing paddling out toward the boat,
  then a paddle boarder showed up and began his float.
The current was strong taking the surface 'debris',
  along for a ride down the sea.

The whales got together after that and continued on their way,
  leaving me wondering if they were having their say,
"No way they could catch up to us the current's too strong,
  they'll likely end up at South Beach before too long!"

 ...not easy to see but the four T101s up at the same time.

Referred to as the T101s, they are T101, T101A, T101B, and T102. 
T102 has the hooked dorsal fin.


  
  






   

5-7-2020 Surprise Encounter with Transients Today

Thursday May 7th

A Steller sea lion eating a fish or something, in close to shore near Hannah Heights area, at the same time Ts were nearby.

...then the Ts veered way offshore.

...'time out' for that eagle to go by !

...I couldn't tell if the whales were in Canadian waters...ah...except for a CA Navy ship that happened to see them, so the ship stopped....at this point I asked myself why I was taking images of whales so far away...who knew...

...the whales continued to go up Haro Strait, slowly...it was 20 minutes or more when the big male was not with the 'rest of the family'...hmmm...the rest of the family (I found out later that 'the rest of the family' was not mom and kids but the aunt and her kids) was now definitely in Canadian waters...and lookie here...

...looked like maybe there were two and it looked like they were hunting... ...and then started to move up island again and were coming in closer... ...the rest of the family was nowhere to be seen, so my focus shifted to the two males...and then...and then...right along the shore the two surfaced...

 T049A1 and his little brother T049A2

...after passing by, a couple minutes later as they surfaced I got a wiff - dead animal smell...they had gotten something along the way...likely a harbor seal because there wasn't a lot of hunting action...

Pretty interesting morning... ...I get up to a high spot to scan for the others...but instead this got my attention!

...it's not the greatest hummer image but the challenge was to get a somewhat crisp image of this hummer as it 'zooped' up and then 'zooped' down! ...Capt. Jim later let me know that they met back up with the rest of the family a few miles north and offshore from where I had seen them.