2-21-11 Looking Us Straight In the eye

Monday, February 21st
I've been getting lots of questions...I have no answers, but here are my observations and thoughts regarding Ruffles...

Yesterday is the first time all of J pod (that's Group A and B) except Ruffles have been seen together since December 2nd...that's almost 3 months.

During that 'almost 3 months' time':
J pod Group A (Granny/Ruffles group) was seen with K Pod on January 3rd and January 7th.  Ruffles was not seen either of those times.  I believe the last sightings of him were in November in Puget Sound and then in late November off Victoria.

J pod Group B and the K Klik were seen January 22nd and January 26th.

In the in between times there were audio encounters with J and K pod vocalizations at various times during the night on various days, but since no visuals there could be no identification as to which J and K whales were passing by.

February 2nd, J pod Group B and all of K pod showed up in Puget Sound and stayed there for 8 days.

J pod Group B only was seen on Feb 13th.

J pod Groups A and B were seen yesterday in Puget Sound (February 20th).
~~
You may remember a year ago, January when during the days of January 26-28 we were all worried about Ruffles...we saw him, but saw no other members of J pod.  Last year on the third day of that 'ordeal' there was no sighting of Ruffles or any other whales...I wrote a post...

...and now once again it is looking us straight in the eye...

...but this year however, it is the opposite...we are seeing all members of J pod except Ruffles...

...he does have a reputation for being off to himself, but he has such a distinct dorsal fin...
...then again there's hardly anyone out on the water...
...and the seas have often been rough...
...but how long can we continue to use these excuses...

Ruffles J-1
...Ruffles is 60 (est.) years old this year...
...his life has been long...
...he has given life to many in his community...
...he has given wonderful gifts of fond memories to humans who have had the pleasure of 'meeting' him...
...I cannot even imagine how those who have known him the longest might be feeling right now...

...and Granny, just think of Granny and the rest of his family...

...so hold out hope we will, until there is no longer any hope to be had...

Added later:  Ruffles was not ever seen again.  Ruffles will live on in the hearts and minds of many. He will always be the Icon of the Southern Resident Community.

9-28-10 The Last Time I Saw Canuck

Tuesday, Sept 28th

...all three pods showed up coming down Boundary Pass, and rounded the corner at Turn Point...

...several stopped to forage...

...then continued moving on down island...

...I could see way up ahead were Ruffles J-1, Granny J-2, Lulu L-53 (Canuck's daughter) and lots of J pod whales...with K pod whales in the mix too...
...the L12s were the last to come by...Mega L-41 - well you can't miss him...

...the last whale I saw of the inshore group as they were crossing Spieden Island toward Henry Island was Canuck L-7 part of The Continuing Saga of Canuck and Lulu...that was strange... (added later: and sadly that was the last sighting of her ever.)

...soon the whales began to fan out and by the time they reached Lime Kiln they were spread all the way across Haro Strait......I made it to the park before the first whale reached it...that was amazing in itself!...

...several, including the K14s, passed by somewhat close to shore...

. ..the others were a 'million' miles offshore looking like they were heading toward Discovery Island which usually means...bye, bye...
...with the glare of the sun and the whales spread all over we don't know if Canuck ever made it down this far.

7-24-10 Nugget and the Harbor Porpoise

Saturday, July 24th

...as I was taking pictures I didn't know that something else was going on as this group of whales and the L-55s (aka L4s) were moving along in a nice calm, picture opp manner up island along the west side...

...but first their calm quiet travel would be disturbed by an official type boat driving at high speed over them...they actually 'scattered a bit' for a few minutes, turning and heading back down island...

...and then got back together and moved north again...

...what totally amazes me is that the first pic I have of her with it is at 10:17 a.m. and the last pic is more than 5 hours later as she and her family group rounded Turn Pt. heading north...I was on the Peregrine of Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon and didn't even think to look to see if she still had it...that is until I looked at my pics later...

...she didn't share it...
...her kids were on either side of her..what a great training opportunity...but she didn't seem to want to do anything other than keep it for herself...
...I believe the thought is that the whales play with them, as a toy...and the porpoise has a heart attack...but she didn't seem to even play with it...I have only one pic that shows the harbor porpoise in a different position......the harbor porpoise tail is sticking up on the far side of Nugget...

...when they rounded Turn Pt. she still had it...prior to that, I have just two pics of her without it...but that's it, every other surfacing she had it...these two images verify that it was Nugget who had the porpoise on this surfacing...

 ... over 5 hours - that's impressive...now I wonder just what was she thinking...

7-1-10 Early In The Day-A Mike and Canuck Moment

Thursday, July 1st
I put together several images...it's not video but as close as I can make it...the whales were moving slowly...they stopped right in front of me...

...as Mike J-26 begins to surface part way through the clip, you can see his dorsal fin is laying over and then on Canuck's L-7 back...

...earlier in the year when Canuck L-7 and her adult daughter Lulu L-53 were traveling with J pod...I remember noticing that Canuck was not in the 'place' where she normally would be...and that was next to Ruffles J-1...

...I'd check on her location when I'd see her, and sometimes she was where she was 'supposed' to be, so I figured I must be off base in my thinking...

...when I had this early morning encounter with the whales at the park in July, I wondered what the whales knew that we humans didn't...I'd have to wait to find out...

6-17-10 Let the Babies Play!

Thursday, June 17th
...out on Maya's Westside Charters, with a few kids and their grandparents on board, we came upon some other kinds of kids - baby killer whales...
 

Question: What's a family to do with three little kids?

Answer: Just keep moving along and let the babies play!

The J17 family had three babies in a 12 month time span. This presented an unusual opportunity to watch little 'whale kids' play just about any time and any day...
...Princess Angeline J-17 had her third offspring in January 2009...her oldest offspring Polaris J-28 had her first offspring in November 2009...her youngest offspring Tahlequah J-35 had her first offspring in January 2010...

...so Princess Angeline became a a new mother for the third time, a grandmother twice in 3 months...
...Polaris and Tahlequah each became a sister for the second time and an aunt for the first time...
...there were times during the summer when the kids were very active...

...it was definitely fun for us humans to watch...

...and of course all three were rarely at the surface at the same time...

...Southern Residents travel with their families their entire lives...so there's lots more play to look forward to...