J-Pod Returns!

On Wednesday, May 15th around noon us Salish Sea whale watchers got the news we've been waiting for for weeks: resident orcas inbound off Victoria!  The Southern Residents can and often are seen in the area every month throughout the year, but around April or May we expect sightings to start happening more often and continue regularly through September. I remember in 2005 someone telling me they thought April was one of the best whale-watching months here, with J-Pod on the west side of San Juan Island just about every day. The last two years, however, there have been no sightings of Southern Residents in inland waters in the month of April for the first time since studies began. This year, there were no sightings of Southern Residents from March 10th off Campbell River until May 15th, the latest ever return for the whales in the spring. Perhaps a sign of the changing times and ocean conditions out there!

The good news was that all of J-Pod (and honorary J-Pod member L87 Onyx) was present and accounted for, from the estimated 100+ year old J2 Granny to the newest calf, the less than one year old J49:

J49

Even better, they all seemed to be in great body condition (nice and fat), so hopefully wherever they've been hanging out they've been finding lots and lots of salmon!

Luckily I only had to work a half day at work, so after lunch I went out to the west side of San Juan Island to look for the whales coming across Haro Strait. They were making slow progress as I saw a few of them just round the tip of Discovery Island. Often they pick up speed and jet across Haro Strait, but that wasn't the case today. Luckily I heard from a friend that the naturalists at Western Prince, where I used to work, were just as keen to see J-Pod as I was. We all chipped in some gas money and the captain took us out for a late afternoon cruise aboard the zodiac-style Western Explorer. I met them in town, we suited up in mustang suits, and off we went around the north end of the island.

We met up with the whales north of Lime Kiln Point State Park in Haro Strait. The first animals we saw were members of the J16 and J14 matrilines. Throughout the early evening we would get to see just about every animal in J-Pod. While unfortunately I didn't actually see J2 Granny or J8 Spieden myself, their presence was confirmed.

J16 Slick and her son J26 Mike

After the first few whales passed by, we spotted another, larger group a little ways behind them.

In this group were the J22s, J11s, J17s, and the rest of the J14s. Included among them was J27 Blackberry, one of the first adult males I've watched grow up from a juvenile into this big guy:

J27 Blackberry

 Not far from Blackberry was his ten-year old younger brother J39 Mako. These two have been extremely tight since their mother passed away a few years ago:

J27 Blackberry with J39 Mako - his smaller dorsal fin hard to see against his big brother's in this shot

The whales were fairly close to shore as they made their was up San Juan Island, wowing visitors at both Lime Kiln and then here at San Juan County Park. It was amazing to see a full parking lot there this time of year - word spreads fast when the whales come back!

J17 Princess Angeline in front of San Juan County Park

Fifteen year-old male J34 Doublestuf passes in front of Low Island, a National Wildlife Refuge, near San Juan County Park

All the youngsters were definitely in a playful mood. Here's cousins J46 Star (4 years old) and J47 Notch (3 years old) hanging out together:

This group was traveling pretty tightly together, meaning at times there were lots of dorsal fins up at once - a sight I love!

Sure it's anthropomorphizing a bit, but the whales seemed happy to be back. They certainly weren't in a hurry to go anywhere and were doing lots of spyhopping, tail slapping, and rolling around at the surface. We dropped the hydrophone in and heard lots of great underwater vocalizations, and on numerous occasions when the whales were logging at the surface we heard some above water vocals too!

There was a light but steady rain falling while we were watching the whales. We were bundled up with sweatshirts, mustang suits, and then rain gear over that so staying warm wasn't a problem. It's funny how you don't notice the wet when watching whales. Here's Sarah looking at whales off the bow of the boat:

Can whales wrestle? I don't know, but there was a lot of roughhousing behavior going on - it was fun to try and visualize what was going on under water with all the splashing and various whale body parts we saw at the surface. This young one has a piece of kelp in its mouth - maybe playing keep away from its friend? The other small whale behind it proceeded to surface on top of and push the one with kelp back underwater:

It's really hard to capture in photos what it was like to watch these whales just goofing around at the surface!

Notice anything unusual in this photo?

The whale on the left actually has its mouth open! I think this is the first time I've ever been able to see killer whale teeth in one of my pictures. Here's a closer look:

I love the more abstract whale photos - many times those are my favorite shots, the sort where unless you're really familiar with the whales you're not even sure what you're seeing. Can you sort out the body parts of the three whales in this shot?

 

On Thursday J-Pod pulled a disappearing act again and they weren't seen, but word is now on Friday afternoon that they're on the west side of San Juan Island right now - so off I go to try and catch up with them again! Now the summer season in the San Juans can really begin!

A Six Warbler Kinda Day, and More

Last Tuesday afternoon, the last day of our very warm weather, I got out after work and walked around Three Meadows Marsh. In the back of my mind was still the chance to find the yellow-headed blackbird (which I didn't), but I also figured that in the bright sunshine there would be lots of bird species singing, and I wasn't disappointed. I took an hour and 45 minutes to walk around the marsh, pausing here and there to stand still and listen or sit in the sunshine and look. In that time, I turned up more than 40 species! The highlight was the wide variety of warblers - six species in all: orange-crowned, black-throated gray, Townsend's, Wilson's, common yellowthroat, and yellow (155).

Common yellowthroat

Orange-crowned warbler

After the six warblers, there were five swallows: northern-rough winged, violet-green, tree, cliff, and barn. Four finches: purple finch, pine siskin, red crossbill, and American goldfinch. Three sparrows: savannah, white-crowned, and song. Two wrens: marsh and house. And one heron for good measure: a great blue.

On Thursday after work we went for a walk at the Friday Harbor Labs, and it was a surprisingly birdy walk considering the dense woods there are often pretty quiet. More orange-crowned, black-throated gray, and Townsend's warblers were singing, as well as house wrens, brown creepers, and red-breasted nuthatches. I was surprised to find three woodpecker species: a couple of northern flickers, a pileated that came quite close where we stopped to sit on a mossy knoll, and a hairy woodpecker that was a new one for my county year list. We came back along the shore trail where the only sea bird present was a trio of rhinoceros auklets. While walking along this part of the trail we also heard a pair of barred owls (156) calling to each other - such an impressive call with their booming Who cooks for you, who cooks for you? Then back at the car I heard a single olive-sided flycatcher (157) call just before we left.

Today was gray and a bit drizzly, though still pretty warm at close to 60 degrees. I don't know if it was the rain that drove them in or what, but our feeders were extremely active all day after having been very quiet for weeks. Our sunflower seed feeder and bag of thistle seeds were bustling with pine sikins, red crossbills, and American goldfinches all day. I didn't want to scare them away (whenever a gull flew by, they flushed, then didn't come back for a while), so I just took this picture through our dirty glass door, but there's more than 15 birds of the three species here:

Occasionally we've had the pleasure of watching a mink come by. It runs down the rocks, dives into the water, then resurfaces a little bit later with a fish or shrimp or some other prize in its mouth. We've regularly seen it running down the shoreline with its food, making us wonder if it's carrying it back to a den. I wasn't able to get a photo of the mink today, but while trying I noticed there were numerous very large California sea cucumbers around - much bigger and more abundant than usual for right here!

During a break in the weather (and a break in the playoff hockey that also took up a lot of the weekend), I headed out to go for a walk at the quarry at the Limekiln Preserve. There were a few target year birds I was hoping for, and one of them, a black-headed grosbeak (158) showed itself briefly on a fence post on my drive there. Westside Lake was pretty quiet when it came to ducks (just a pair of mallards), but there were lots of birds singing including a mourning dove and a pair of warbling vireos. As I walked the loop by the quarry, I also heard a Cassin's vireo, Pacific-slope flycatchers, and the regular assortment of warblers, sparrows, and finches that have been abundant of late. I saw both Anna's and rufous hummingbirds and a few violet-green swallows swooping over the cliffs. No luck with turning up any other year birds on this walk, but I did find a stunning cinnabar moth:

The manroot was also abundant on the cliffs and seems to be in peak bloom:

Looks like we're tied with Dave at last count as we both sit at 158 - amazing how close our tallies stay throughout the year! And while I'm a good 30 species up on my dad on the year list challenge at the moment, he's got me worried because he's about to embark on an epic two-week, cross-Canada trip that will include some visits to a few birding hotspots. I'll enjoy his bird sightings vicariously while keeping watch for some more new species for me here on the west coast.

The Migrants Have Arrived

Friday after work I went down to Eagle Cove since a MacGillivray's warbler was reported there a day before. There are so many great places to visit on the island, and for some reason Eagle Cove isn't one I go to all that often. Perhaps that's because in the summer it gets pretty crowded as one of the island's only sandy beaches; it's a popular sun-bathing spot and the shallow, protected waters also make swimming an attractive option, too. On this day there were a few other people there when I arrived, but they all left before I did, and for a while I had this amazing little cove to myself on a beautiful sunny, warm day. For a while I sat in the grass above the beach, where I took this panorama shot (click for a larger view - it's worth it):

The tide was pretty far out, so the tidepooling was excellent. In several places the pools looked almost like ant colonies there was so much bustling activity made up mostly of hermit crabs but also including fish and shrimp. There were lots of mussels, barnacles, and snails as well as a few anemone colonies. In one spot I found a lot of limpets, and these two had their "feet" extended instead of being sucked down onto the rock like I usually see them.

I wasn't able to relocate the MacGillivray's warbler, but there was a decent amount of bird activity in the tunnel-like deciduous woody area on the way down to the beach. Pine siskins and American goldfinches were calling from the upper branches. A gang of northwestern crows was upset about something. In the parking area I was surprised when this Bewick's wren flew out of the bushes and landed on the wheel of my car. It seemed really interested in it or the tire as it spent several minutes hopping around it.

There wasn't a lot of bird activity on the water other than a large flock of gulls. I did see a few surf scoters, a common loon, and a single harlequin duck. There may have been more out in the distance bu the back-lighting made it especially hard to see.

In addition to birds, sunshine, and tidepools, there was a nice variety of wildflowers to see. This one caught my eye in part because I didn't recognize it, but then I found a sign explaining it's a highly invasive species called yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdulon), and they were discouraging people from taking it and helping it spread around the island.

Today after visiting the local farmer's market I headed out to English Camp where there is a particular stretch of trail that every year seems to turn up lots of year birds for me in early May:

Today was no exception. In a few minutes I added black-throated gray warbler (151), house wren (152), and Pacific-slope flycatcher (153) to my year list, and later on my walk I heard my first Wilson's warblers (154) of the year as well. The only one missing that I got here last year was a western tanager. In addition to these new arrivals, I heard and saw orange-crowned warblers, rufous hummingbirds, Cassin's vireos, red-breasted nuthatches, brown creepers, pine siskins, and more. It was awesome to just stand there and listen to it all!

I walked partway up Mt. Young and into the open fields on the south side where a trail leads into a Garry oak meadow:

While I saw some spotted coralroot blooming in the woods, there was manroot in blossom all over the place out here:

The bird life changed from the more woodland species to a variety of purple finches, American goldfinches, violet-green swallows, turkey vultures, and white-crowned sparrows. I caught this white-crowned sparrow just as he took flight:

I looped back down to towards the lower part of English Camp in part to check on the opsrey nest, which is dutifully being rebuilt after being blown down again over the winter. Down at the parade grounds there were the usual Canada geese, a trio of black oystercatchers, two pairs of starlings already feeding young in the eaves of one of the old buildings, and still 15 or so bufflehead out in the bay. I walked back up the officer's quarters trail and turned around to take in this stunning view looking back down on the parade grounds:

As warm as it's been in the last two days (I haven't had to put on a jacket or sweatshirt once!), it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow and I'm sure there will be more time spent outside. Here's hoping I find some more birds among the newly arrived summer residents, and oh yeah, it would be great if those orcas would show up soon, too!

April Flowers and May Moths

The weather last weekend didn't end up being conducive to much more picture taking, but I did get out to a COASST survey at Fourth of July Beach, and as per usual the live birds were the most interesting find as there were no stranded birds. I was surprised to see a trio of killdeer there, and hanging out with them was a small flock of least sandpipers (149) and a single western sandpiper (150). 

This week, however, has seen some more beautiful, warm spring weather. On Tuesday afternoon I took a walk at American Camp where more wildflowers are blooming every day. 

Small-flowered lupine (Lupinus polycarpus)

Meadow death-camas (Zygadenus veneosus)

Common camas (Camassia quamash)

One of my favorite wildflowers is also one of the smallest. It's very easily overlooked - the small-flowered forget-me-not:

Small-flowered forget-me-not (Myosotis laxa)

Here's another shot with my thumb in it to show just how small they are. The flowers are only 2-5mm wide.

I'm not sure what this plant is, but it also had very small white flowers:

I was surprised to see a mosquito (or a close relative) feeding on some English daisies. As annoying as they can be, only the females are blood suckers and only during parts of their life cycle, so it makes sense that the rest of the time they're another useful species of insect pollinator.

I also came across this very cooperative butterfly:

Common checkered skipper (Pyrgus communis)

It stayed completely still as I slowly made my approach and took a few pictures. When I glanced down at my camera to check a setting, it made a quick getaway, as when I looked back up it was no where in sight. My field guide says this is probably the most common American skipper species, but I haven't noticed it here before.

These interesting insect sightings were trumped by a surprising find today on the sidewalk in front of the office at work. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this ceanothus silk moth:

Ceanothus silk moth (Hyalophora euryalus)

These are the kind of moths you see pictures of in books and magazines, but I've never seen one in real life. They're mostly nocturnal, which explains why I haven't seen one before, but WOW! Also known as the Nike moth (for the swooshes on its wings), the larva feed on plants of the Ceanothus genus which explains their other common name. I was surprised to see Douglas fir and madrone are also on their list of host plants/food - I guess this is good habitat for them here!

The giant silk moth family, so named for the large silk cocoons they spin, contains some of the most stunning moth species in the world. I believe this one is a male due to the large size of the feathery antennae. The adults only live for 2-3 days, but males may fly up to 20 miles in that time as they track down females by scent.

Yet another example of how you just never know what you're going to see - or where you're going to see it!

Birding From Portland to San Juan Island

With a stretch of warm, summer-like weather I took advantage of some great days for birding. Before leaving Portland, I stopped by Vanport Wetlands where I added yellow-headed blackbird (143) to the year list. This was just a stop on our way to Smith and Bybee Lakes, a beautiful wetlands area nestled right near the Oregon-Washington border. It's a very green place in spring time, and the first part of the trail was just humming with yellow-rumped warblers - there were probably hundreds of them there!

There was lots of osprey (144) activity around - we saw three different pairs at or near the wetlands. There were numerous adult and immature bald eagles, too. Nothing outnumbered the turtles sunning themselves on logs, however. There were easily more than 100 visible from one overlook!

We saw a nice variety of waterfowl here, and some more uncommon sightings included a pair of bushtits and a calling pileated woodpecker.

The next day, Wednesday, it was time to start heading back north to the San Juan Islands, but we got an early enough start to make sure we had ample time to enjoy Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on the way. We spent two hours there, and it was pretty amazing to see that the parking lot was full on a weekday morning!

The number of people present didn't seem to put a damper on the bird sightings as I saw or heard nearly 40 species while we were there. The cliff swallows were in abundance, and were busy building their nests on the visitors center and on the Twin Barns. Tree swallows were also busy coming and going from nesting cavities in the deciduous trees along the first part of the walk. Pretty much all the expected duck species were present in pretty good numbers, too: northern shoveler, northern pintail, mallards, American wigeon, green-winged teal, bufflehead, ring-necked ducks, gadwall, and Canada and cackling geese. A pair of pied-billed grebes chased each other around the marsh and more savannah sparrows were singing around every corner. On the first stretch of the trail I also saw my first brown-headed cowbird (145) of the year, and I also heard a sora (146) call once.

In addition to all the waterfowl, the marshy areas were noisy with singing marsh wrens and common yellowthroat. The yellowthroat are often secretive, but one pair of males seemed to be in the middle of a territorial dispute and were chasing each other back and forth in plain sight. It was still tough to get a photograph of them, as whenever they landed they were obscured by grasses. This is the best picture I got - you can see the second male behind and to the right of the one in the foreground.

Out on the boardwalk part of the trail the bird activity quieted down substantially, but the landscape and the colors were still impressive to take in:

It was low tide, and only a few green-winged teal and a pair of greater yellowlegs seemed to be foraging in the mudflats. In the distance some glaucous-winged and mew gulls could be seen too. 

Time went quickly and all too soon it was time to get back on the road to catch our ferry. We made it home in the evening, but it wasn't straight back to work for me - I took a few extra days off to make sure I could enjoy a few days of spring time here on the island, too. Thursday was another awesome day with temperatures nearing 70 degrees, and I spent several hours out in some of my favorite birding spots. Inspired by the sora I heard at Nisqually, I wanted to see if I could turn up the species on San Juan Island as well, and indeed I heard a couple of birds at both Swan Valley Marsh and False Bay Creek. Also at False Bay Creek, the swallows seemed to be selecting nesting boxes and four turkey vultures soared overhead. Just like at Nisqually, I heard some more marsh wrens, common yellowthroat, and savannah sparrows, but also saw a hunting northern harrier and heard a single Virginia rail.

Down at the south end of the island, common camas is starting to bloom in the prairies:

We haven't quite hit our wildflower peak here yet, but the careful observer can still find lots of species in bloom right now:

While walking the prairies in search of wildflowers, a pair of American goldfinches (147) flew overhead, my first of the season. Large flocks of surf scoters and red-breasted mergansers could still be seen off of South Beach, and another northern harrier cruised over the grasslands. Savannah sparrows, seeming especially abundant this year, were also everywhere. The biggest surprises of the week were still in store for me, however.

As I drove along the Redoubt Road, I saw a bird fly up from near the ground to perch on a tree. At first I assumed it was another savannah sparrow, as nearly every bird I lifted the binoculars to throughout my walk had turned out to be one of these streaky sparrows with yellow by the eye and a buzzy call. Something about this one struck me as different, however, and am I ever glad I stopped! It turned out to be a female mountain bluebird (148). This species is usually only seen east of the Cascades, but a few always migrate west of the Cascades while heading to more northern climates and sometimes stop over on the San Juan Islands. This is only the second time I've seen the species in the county and my first time seeing one on San Juan Island. The bird flew further along the road and I was able to get this photo of it before she took off and flew out of the sight to the north:

From here I scanned the American Camp prairies with my binoculars and saw a beautiful red fox still in its lush winter coat, surprisingly my first fox of the day. Usually this time of year the prairies are active with foxes - to my surprise I saw lots and lots of rabbits (the national park has attempted and is to eradicate these guys from the historic grasslands) but only this one fox! With further scanning I saw something perched in a stand of fir trees, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it was a short-eared owl. I thought all these owls had taken off by now, as they're usually only seen here in winter and I hadn't heard of any sightings since the last week of March. But, there it was! I was thrilled when after watching it for a few minutes it took flight, giving me the opportunity to get what I think is probably my best shot of the week:

Next up, the weather has turned cloudy again, but I've still got a few days off and plenty of places to explore. I'll report back with what I find!