Winter Birding on Lopez Island

With so many microclimates and microhabitats in the San Juan Islands, there are very different places to explore and even different birds to see depending on which island you are on. Because of the convenience of the ferry schedule, when we decide to explore another island, we usually go to Orcas, but yesterday we decided to go for the extra early and extra long ferry rides in order to explore Lopez Island. Good decision!

Locally known as "Slowpez", Lopez is definitely the quietest of the larger ferry-served island with about half the population of Orcas and a third of the population of San Juan. It's also been nicknamed "the friendly isle", in part because every car waves to every other car as they pass each other anywhere on the island. I've only been to Lopez a handful of times myself, which means there are still parks I have yet to explore over there. After our visit yesterday, I think I actually prefer the Lopez over Orcas, because there are more coastal access points with dramatic landscapes and fewer in the way of hilly wooded hikes.

One of the main reasons for our trip was to go birding and try and add some species to our year and photo year lists. Our first stop in the morning was to Fisherman Bay, where both the species and photographic opportunities added up quickly!

Belted kingfisher in the early morning light at Fisherman Bay

Great blue heron at Fisherman Bay

Heading out the spit at Fisherman Bay

Abstract rock and tree reflection at Fisherman Bay

Our next stop was Shark Reef, which is on the opposite side of San Juan Channel of our regular stomping grounds at Cattle Point. Unlike Cattle Point, which is all open prairie, you hike through the woods to get to the rocky Shark Reef.

Boardwalk at Shark Reef

Shark Reef, on the east side of Cattle Pass

Next we searched for one of the main target species for our trip: the wild turkey! While they used to be found on other island including San Juan, currently the only flock of wild turkeys on the island makes their home on Lopez. We were just about to give up when we came upon a group of more than 20 of them! I'm not sure why they are so much more fun to watch than many other birds, but they are - I suppose it's because they're very expressive, comical, and have lots of social interactions.

Wild turkeys on Lopez

It's surprising to see such a large bird fly - not only over this fence, but even up into the trees above!

Our next stop was Iceberg Point, a place I amazingly had never visited before. There are miles of hiking trails there and we only got to go out to the point in one direction, so we will definitely have to go back. While the birding was decent, the scenery is absolutely stunning.

Iceberg Point

It also offered a different perspective on Cattle Point:

The geology is complex and amazing throughout the San Juans as well, and Iceberg Point was no exception.

Hummel Lake was pretty quiet, but seems to be one of the first locations swallows show up in the islands each year. With reports of some already in nearby Skagit County, the early arrivals might not be far off! We settled for this picturesque common merganser though:

Our last stop before heading back to the ferry was out to Spencer Spit, but we got waylaid on the way there at first by a northern shrike (which would only perch on fence posts, so sadly will not quality for the photo year list which has the theme of photos "without the hand of man"), and then by these sheep. Have you ever seen sheep run before? I don't think I have!

Unlike the ferry ride there, the ferry ride back was in the daylight, so we continued birding from the boat (as we again stopped at every island on our way home). 

An up-close view of double-crested and pelagic cormorants at the Shaw Island ferry terminal

No luck on the shrike, but I did get a rock pigeon picture "without the hand of man"! I like this theme because it makes me attempt different and more challenging photos, such as in-flight shots. The different challenge means the first rock pigeons I saw this year perched on a man-made structure didn't "count", but I like this result much better!

In the end we tallied 52 species on the day, the highest single-day total yet this year! Not at all a bad showing, and after a several year gap in visits, we will definitely we going back to Lopez sooner rather than later.

Portrait of a glaucous-winged gull at the Orcas Island ferry landing

July 22 - August 14: Playing Catch Up on Whale Sigthings!

Over the last couple weeks I've had a lot of distant and/or brief whale encounters, many of which didn't seem worthy of their own blog post during the height of summer when I'm busy with so many other things as well! But now I've gotten so behind on sharing whale sightings that I have plenty of photos to share all in one go.

On July 22nd, the two halves of J-Pod met up in rough seas right off Lime Kiln. Most of the whales were pretty far offshore, but we got a surprise pass by J41 Eclipse and her son J51 Nova.

On August 3rd, all of J-Pod along with the L4s, L47s, and L26s made their way up Haro Strait in the evening. I still say nothing beats sunset whales!

L47 Marina and L115 Mystic

L92 Crewser

It was cool to see one of the biggest and one of the smallest members of L-Pod traveling together:

L92 Crewser and little L122, who will be named this month

On August 5th, the same group came back down Haro Strait, spread all the way across. Only a few were close enough to see from Lime Kiln on another day with wild seas.

Those babies gotta get up extra high to breathe when the seas are choppy!

IDs were especially difficult because of the backlighting, and the fact that the whales were "all mixed up" from our human perspective. For instance, I saw J31 Tsuchi traveling with L83 Moonlight!

On August 8th, K-Pod returned after an unheard of nearly two month absence in the middle of summer!  I just missed seeing them on August 9th as they passed with J-Pod, but did catch this awesome breach by J16 Slick.

J16 Slick

The "just missed" streak continued in the evening as I only caught the tail end of another pass, but got to see J17 Princess Angeline and her calf J53, who will also be named this month.

J17 Princess Angeline and J53

On August 11th, trying to increase my odds, I got up extra early to head out to the west side in hope of whales. My gamble paid off as I spotted J34 Doublestuf in the early morning light, foraging off of Land Bank. Surprisingly, only he, his mom J22 Oreo, and brother J38 Cookie were there. The rest of Js and part of K-Pod went north during the night without them! While for that day it looked eerily similar to when we had the three L22s on their own on the west side for a time during the summer of 2013, the J22s reunited with the rest of their pod by the end of the day.

J34 Doublestuf

On August 12th I finally caught up with the K12s and K13s, whales I hadn't really gotten a good look at yet this year. (In reality, I just missed them again at Lime Kiln, so we jumped out on our boat - enough misses!) We followed the K12s up to Boundary Pass - the K13s were a bit ahead, so I still didn't get a look at them.

K12 Sequim and K43 Saturna

While on the water with the K12s and K13s, we got word from another boater that ALL the other Southern Residents were inbound from the Strait of Juan de Fuca! Could we possibly be in for our first superpod of the year? Anticipating a yes, we got up early again the next morning, on August 13th spent four hours at Lime Kiln before we heard the K12s and K13s were staying up north and everyone else who had just come in the night before after dark was westbound again. Still, those early summer mornings are pretty darn spectacular with or without whales.

Mt. Baker sunrise as seen from Friday Harbor

Black oystercatcher at Lime Kiln

Female belted kingfisher with fish off Lime Kiln

Parent feeding juvenile oystercatcher at limpet

That afternoon, we heard the T65As were heading down San Juan Channel, hugging the San Juan shoreline. We went out to the Friday Harbor Labs in hopes of seeing them. As they approached, they were indeed right off the rocks. Unfortunately right after I took this photo, they went on a long dive and next surfaced around the corner past us to the south!

It was such a hot summer Saturday, that hanging out by the water continued to sound pretty good. We watched the Ts as they progressed down the channel into Griffin Bay, and then caught them as the exited Cattle Pass.

The Western Prince with the T65As passing Goose Island in Cattle Pass

The next day, August 14th, the K12s and K13s did the westside shuffle. We got to Lime Kiln just as they were passing heading north, but could barely see them! I got my first look at K20 Spock on the viewfinder of my camera, where I could see her better than with my naked eye through the fog!

K20 Spock - seen better by my camera than by me

Luckily, the fog lifted before the whales came back south, and I got a proper good look at K20 as she came right near the kelp!

K20 Spock

The whales were fighting a strong flood tide to head south, but seemed to be enjoying the currents, doing lots of breaches and tail slaps as they rolled at the surface.

Today, after having just the K12s and K13s in inland waters for several days, some other Js and Ks made their way back east. Bizarrely, the K12s and K13s went north without waiting to meet up with them, and then this evening just four whales (including J2 Granny) went north without any others, who were still south and milling off False Bay. Every day continues to be different in terms of which whales are where and with whom, so who knows what tomorrow and the coming weeks will bring!

September 6th: Five Epic Hours of Whales and Wildlife at Lime Kiln

With word the night before that all three pods were inbound from the ocean, I knew I should get out to Lime Kiln early on the morning of Saturday, September 6th. When I got out to the park at about 7:00, it was one of those blissfully peaceful mornings, so calm you can hear the porpoises breathing. I was sitting on the rocks about half an hour after arriving listening to those soft exhalations: Pfft.......Pfft. Suddenly, I heard a different noise. Faint - far away - but distinct. Kawoof! That was no porpoise!

It was pretty magical for me to hear the orcas before I  saw them. After hearing two breaths, I started scanning to the south and spotted a dorsal fin a mile or so away, but heading north towards me! Fighting an ebb tide, it took this first small group of whales a looonnnng time to get to Lime Kiln. When the first one finally arrived, I wasn't too surprised to see it was J2 Granny!

J2 Granny surfaces in the beautiful early morning light off Lime Kiln

Not far behind Granny were J16 Slick and her son J26 Mike. I could see more blows to the south, but very spread out, and when Mike stopped to forage for a while off Lime Kiln it was clear the whales weren't in any hurry to go anywhere. Eventually, over the next two hours, the rest of J-Pod "Group A" came by heading north: the rest of the J16s, the J14s, the J19s, and L87 Onyx:

L87 Onyx - look at that reflection of the dorsal fin!

Whales were visible pretty much all the time, but in the gaps when there weren't any close, there was so much other wildlife to look at it! It was just all around a very photogenic morning.

The first rays of sunlight on Lime Kiln Lighthouse

A belted kingfisher - the best photo I've ever gotten of one in flight!

The harbor seal action was incredible, too. There were at least three seals fishing right off the park throughout the morning, and they caught at least three large fish throughout the morning.

Harbor seal with a fish. He was looking at me with eyes like he thought I might steal it from him! The water looks so gray because this was before the sun really came up over the island - it was early!

Two harbor seals - much nicer lighting after the sun arrived!

A little early morning yoga, harbor seal style!

Once Group A had continued north in their ones and twos, which took until almost 10 AM, I could see a lot of blows all at once off Land Bank to the south. Yesss!! Who could this be? Turns out it was all of Group B (J11s, J17s, J22s) traveling together, most of them right along the shoreline!

Photographer and whales - the best of shore-based whale-watching!

I love this shot because it shows just how close to shore the whales come! When you see them appearing over or around the rocks, you know you're a few moments away from an incredible treat!

Not only were they close, the lighting couldn't have been better! I've spent a lot of early mornings on the west side this summer without seeing anything, but this one panning out made it all worth it!

I've gotten photos of orcas and harbor seals in the same shot when I've been on a boat, but this was the first time I had a chance to take a shot like this from shore! Usually the harbor seals are on the rocks behind the whales, but this time the harbor seal is in the foreground!

The lighting was such that you could see the whales underwater as they swam past, truly one of the most magical experiences. Unfortunately the surface was just a bit too disturbed to get clear underwater photos, but it still led to some neat abstract shots. I really like photos like this, though I've learned over the years that unless you've looked at as many whales and whale photos as I have, it's not always clear what you're seeing! Here's one showing just the head of the whale underwater, and you're seeing the white chin, white eye patch, and the beginning of her exhalation:

Here's the next photo in the sequence to help you better visualize what you're seeing:

Here's another set of three shots where you can see a whale underwater, right before she comes up and surfaces onto the back of the whale in front of her!

Then in this one even I'm not sure of what all is visible in terms of how many whales or which body parts you're seeing, but I like it anyway! I do see the head of one whale in the middle, right above the ripple across the middle of the photo. That whale is "upside down" compared to the ones in the photos above.

Not only was the light amazing for seeing under water, it was perfect above water, too! How about this "rainblow" from J32 Rhapsody?

A beautiful "rainblow" from J32 Rhapsody

Two whales were trailing just a minute or two behind the main group, and all of a sudden they raced by to catch up. It was J28 Polaris and J46 Star.

J28 Polaris

At this time I wasn't even sure if all three pods had made it in, or stayed in for that matter. But when all of Js had gone by, I was still seeing blows to the south, so I knew somebody else was here! About 20 minutes after the Js came the K14s. As is always the case on these epic passbys, as soon as they had passed, the next set of whales was approaching. Following the K14s were the K12s, and then the K13s in three spread out groups of their own. The final two whales to pass were K20 Spock and K38 Comet.

K20 Spock and K38 Comet

When all of Ks had gone by (we're talking about a little over 4 hours of whales slowly passing by at this point), there were still more blows to the south! These whales (they had to be Ls, by the process of elimination, as everyone else but three K-Pod whales had been sen at this point) were milling, and while I waited to see if they would make their way up, the harbor seals continued to entertain.

It looked like the seals were catching salmon:

I'm not sure if these two both saw the same fish at the same time or what, but they proceeded to fight over one good sized fish right in front of me!

The action was happening so fast I was just clicking the shutter with no real idea of what I was capturing, but it was a real treat to go home and look through my pictures later! Here's one seal lunging out of the water right at the other:

And my gem seal shot of the day, one of the seals completely submerged underwater but visible holding a very tattered salmon in his mouth!

In the end, the whales to the south turned and went back south, but I couldn't complain! After five hours and more than five hundred photos at Lime Kiln, it had truly been an epic morning. Ultimately Js and Ks continued north to the Fraser River while the 3 K-Pod whales and all of L-Pod spent their whole day off the southwest side of San Juan Island. Big news came in the afternoon, however, when the Center for Whale Research announced that they had documented a new calf, L120, born to L86 Surprise!

If you've been reading my blog throughout the summer, you've probably heard me mention that J49 Ti'lem I'nges was the last calf born to the Southern Residents - in August of 2012! We had to wait an astonishing 25 months to welcome the next new member to the population. While we were all beyond thrilled to hear about this new little one's arrival, the long drought with no babies is certainly a cause for concern. The very latest research from the Conservation Canine crew (the folks that use scat-detection dogs to  collect killer whale fecal samples for some pretty cutting edge hormone analysis) is that it looks like the whales are getting pregnant, but seem to be miscarrying, perhaps due to nutritional stress. It goes back to the very same core message: no fish, no blackfish.

The arrival of this little one was also a little bittersweet because of the family group he/she was born in to. The last whale born to L86 Surprise! (yes the exclamation point is officially part of the name) met an unfortunate fate. You can read about L112 Sooke on one of my previous blog posts here.

But I don't mean to digress too far into the sad side of things - the arrival of L120 was a very happy day! So happy that I got tears in my eyes when I heard the news. It would take a few days until I would have the opportunity to meet L120 for myself, but I would get a chance to see him/her before too long!! Stay tuned for those photos - you won't believe how small a 6 foot long, 400 pound cetacean can look!