August 26 - September 14: Catching Up On Whale Sightings!

Yikes, it's been too long since I've blogged again! Just because I've been super busy in all aspects of my life doesn't mean the whale sightings haven't continued to happen. Here's another catch-up blog with some photos and brief descriptions of some of the black and whites I've seen over the last three weeks...

On August 26th, the J17s and J22s spent the afternoon foraging on the west side of San Juan Island. The J17s were off Land Bank, where I got to see every member of the matriline over the course of an hour - including J28 Polaris, who was reported to be looking very thin. It was hard to see her in this condition, but after concerns that she might be living out her last days, I was very grateful to see her at all! This photo (taken from shore) shows depressions around her blowhole and eyepatches that are signs of a malnourished whale.

An unhealthy looking J28 Polaris on August 26th

Fast-forwarding ahead for a moment, J28 - as well her dependent calf J54 (just named Dipper) and older daughter J46 - are all still with us. While she still shows a bit of a depression, in my opinion she looks a little more rounded out like perhaps she's been gaining some weight. The fact that she's made it this long after looking in poor health attests to her fighting spirit! We're all still sending her and her little family lots of strong healing energy and love.

J28 Polaris (left) and a big tail slap from her daughter J46 Star on September 14

On August 28th, after hearing there were transients nearby, we jumped in the boat to get a glimpse of them near Spieden Island. It was the T36s and T99s, and while we were only with them briefly, we caught a little bit of action!

On the evening of August 29th, nearly all the Southern Residents made their way back into inland waters. They split up and spread out as they neared San Juan, so we only saw a few of them from Lime Kiln, but a small mixed group of Js and Ls gave us a nice close sunset pass:

L82 Kasatka and J31 Tsuchi

It was also cool to see a couple small resting groups offshore; resting is a behavior we're, for some reason, not seeing as much of as we used to. One of the groups was the J22 matriline:

J22 Oreo flanked by her sons J38 Cookie and J34 Doublestuf

On August 31st, I was thrilled to be able to share a short but sweet pass by some Ks and Ls at Lime Kiln with my visiting family. 

L86 Surprise

L118 Jade and the youngest member of L-Pod, L123 who was just named Lazuli

While they seemed to be in travel mode, we got treated to a spectacular cartwheel - I don't think I've ever photographed one from this angle before!

It was followed up a moment later by a big breach from L118 Jade:

L118 Jade

On September 2nd Jason and I headed over to Vancouver Island to visit family and take care of some things over there, and amazingly, some whales followed us! We got lucky to get a glimpse of two transients, T2B and T60D, make their way deep into Saanich Inlet. Then, we got even luckier after we traveled around the other side of the inlet and were in the exact right place at the right time to get a close shore-based pass right in Mill Bay! It was extra special to share it with Jason, who grew up going to that beach, but had never even seen orcas before this year.

12 year old male T60D

37 year old female T2B

As a result of being away there was then a week gap in whale sightings for me, remedied on September 10th when the Southern Residents came back in. Technically, it was a superpod - with all the Southern Residents here - and not the first such day of the year. But, I feel like I haven't experienced a true superpod yet this year. They've all been in inland waters at the same time, but SO incredibly spread out. For instance, on this day, spread from Trial Island to Active Pass! To me, a superpod brings up images of a party scene of 80+ whales in tight, intermingling groups...still waiting for that this year! Our September 10th encounter was more indicative of what it's been like this year. Over the course of an hour we saw 7 whales representing members of all three pods, but not even all members of a single matriline and no other fins in sight!

L110 Midnight

K26 Lobo

J42 Echo

On September 11th we saw a distant pass from Lime Kiln, the most notable moment of which was when a humpback whale came cruising north while the whales traveled south. The humpback, who I identified as BCY0409 Yogi, seemed to take exception to the fish-eating whales, trumpeting on every surfacing. Earlier in the day, some other whale watchers had documented humpback whales interfering on a transient killer whale attach on a Steller sea lion...I couldn't help but wonder if this was one of the same humpbacks, just ticked off at orcas in general that day even though the resident orcas posed no threat to it.

On September 14th we had an occurrence that used to be common but hasn't been so much any more - ALL of J-Pod and ALL of K-Pod traveling together! That really shouldn't be a shock, but it's because a rarity these days. J53, who was just named Kiki, was super active at the surface as she often is, and did several half breaches with her mouth open! It's not too often you get to see orca teeth!

J53 Kiki showing her teeth

As usual, K25 Scoter was right with mom!

K13 Skagit and K25 Scoter

We only caught the second half of the pass at Lime Kiln, but the vocalizations were so great we decided to hop in the boat to see if we could get more recordings further north. Wow, did we ever! Not only were the whales very vocal, but something about the water conditions made the calls really resonate so we could hear everything very clearly even from far away. At one point we set up about 1/4 mile off shore from whales foraging along the cliffs at Kellett Bluffs, and recorded for about 20 minutes - quite long for a boat-based recording! We hardly saw any dorsal fins during that time, as the whales were doing long dives and were pretty far away, but the calls made it sound like at times they were talking right into the hydrophone! Take a listen here for a sample of what we heard. 

L87 Onyx

It's been interesting to see such an increase in active foraging behavior over the last couple weeks. Whales aren't just stopping to opportunistically catch a salmon as they travel, they're hanging out in one area for long periods of time and regularly pursuing fish, apparent from their fast surface lunges. Hopefully that's indicative that they're finding more to eat, though their pattern has pretty much been one day up to the Fraser, one day down, one day out.

Even though he was far away at this point, I had to crop this photo because I love this perspective so much - the trailing edge of the dorsal fin of L87 Onyx!

K20 Spock

K20 Spock was one of the whales we saw actively foraging, but she took a moment out of her day to roll at the surface and wave her fins in the air while upside down!

As we tried to make our way back to port we were forestalled by the whales grouping up in Open Bay. While waiting for them to pass, it was neat to see them all together again after having been so spread out for the previous hour. There was a lot of intermingling among whales from both J and K Pods, and apparently they were saying their goodbyes? A bit later I heard K-Pod went back south, while J-Pod continued up to the Fraser River.

Some of the many whales together in Open Bay

Okay, last time I posted a blog post providing a mass update on belated whale reports, it was followed the next day by one of the most spectacular whale encounters of the summer that definitely needed it's own blog post! (In case you missed it, you can see that post here.) Fingers crossed the same thing repeats itself for me tomorrow :)

As we reach the back half of September, thoughts of a long, mostly whale-less winter loom ahead, so every whale encounter becomes extra special. You just don't know when it might be your last for the year! But I'm not ready to pack it in yet, as I'm hopeful for at least two more good weeks of "whale season"!

June 25th: The T123s, T36As, and T75Bs in Boundary Pass

After being around for a few days early in the month, the Southern Residents have again proven scarce. This is starting to feel a lot like the summer of 2013, when they were hardly around at all. On a few days, some residents have just poked their heads in, presumably to check things out, before leaving and heading west again less than 24 hours later. On June 18th, it was a sub-group of L-Pod that came in as far as Lime Kiln before heading west again.

Members of the L4 matriline came into mid Haro Strait, barely making it north of Lime Kiln before turning and porpoising back south again

It was nice to see them, however briefly, including numerous spectacular breaches by L82 Kasatka:

On June 23rd, the stars finally aligned for me to see orcas right from our houseboat in Friday Harbor! It's not often orcas come right inside of Brown Island, and despite having the houseboat in the family for the last 13 years, I've never managed to be here when the whales come through. That all changed as I lived out something I've dreamed of experiencing for years! I really only saw one surfacing from pretty far away, but it was still awesome, and I have a photo to document it:

As they left Friday Harbor and turned north up San Juan Channel, we hurried over to the Friday Harbor Labs property where we saw them again, getting a little better view this time of the T73As, a group of transients I had never seen until this year.

T73A with her sprouter son T73A1

Today, with no reports of whales anywhere nearby but sunny skies and calm seas, the Orca Behavior Institute crew decided to head out anyway since we haven't been on the boat in a long time. Maybe all we needed to do was get out on the water anyway! It wasn't long after we left before we heard about two different groups of transients heading south from up north. It was still a bit of a trip for us, but with whale sightings being more limited for us this year, it was worth the effort!

First we caught up with the T123s near Skipjack Island.

Male T123A

They were looping all over the place. First they seemed to be aiming for President's Channel, but then they followed along the north side of Waldron to Sandy Point. Just when it looked like they might aim south to San Juan Channel, they flipped north again, then went west, and finally east across Boundary Pass. For whatever reason, they decided not to intercept the other group of transients that had just made their way down Swanson Channel.

Crossing Boundary Pass is fun in calm waters, but you had better keep an eye out for those freighters!

With the T123s getting more and more unpredictable, we headed over to the other group heading east along Pender Bluffs, made up of the T36As and T75Bs - six whales including two one year olds. They were all slowly traveling in a tight group, and with their more predictable surfacings it was easier to get a good view and snap some photos.

T36A

T36A and one year old T36A3

The T36As

T75B

It was nice to get a look at little T75B2 - who is actually quite a bit bigger than when I first saw him/her as a two week old calf back in April 2015!

When we decided to peel off and head home, they were just at the bottom of Plumper Pass, seemingly undecided as to whether to head north or continue east. If the seas were anything but flat we wouldn't have been able to venture so far from home. I checked out on the map after getting back, and it turns out with all the looping around Boundary Pass we traveled about 45 miles on Serenity today! It was a great christening trip for the new name decals we just got on the boat this morning:

Back at the harbor after about four and a half hours on the water, I had to whip out the camera one more time to snap a few photos of these Canada geese goslings in the bay:

It was a great day that finally felt like summer, but despite seeing lots of orcas, it still doesn't feel right not having our Southern Residents around!

June 21: Members of All 3 Pods (OBI #7)

The whales have been around on a daily basis (just like the good ol' days!), and that means our research efforts have been on a roll, too. I'm way behind on photos (that is not a complaint!) - I'm just not getting to blog about our 7th research encounter with residents, and today my partner Michael had encounter #15! So let's get right to it.

For the first time of our research season we went out in the early morning hoping to find whales. As would become a trend over the next week, the waters were great, and we headed south on a hunch and found whales near False Bay. On June 21st we found all of J-Pod, all of K-Pod, and the 15 L-Pod whales that have been around (L4s, L47s, and L95) heading north. Over a little over two hours we followed them up to Spieden Channel.

Orca passing Lime Kiln Lighthouse - when I'm not on the boat, that's where I watch whales from, too!

One question I raised is: how do you define a superpod? Many people will call it a superpod when members of all three pods are present, as we had on this day. I used to be likely to call this a superpod, too. But with the whales splitting into so many smaller and varied groups, by that definition, J-Pod Group A, the K14s, and L87 would be a superpod! (I pointed out this potential scenario, not knowing we would have several encounters with that exact group in the near future.) So, I've reverted to the traditional definition of a superpod, which for the Southern Residents means the entire community present. There are still some L-Pod whales that haven't come "in" yet this summer, so we haven't had a chance for a full-fledged superpod just yet. Last year, there was only one day all summer where ALL members of the Southern Resident Community were together.

Anyway, back to this day: at Kellett Bluffs they started to get a bit more active, and we saw some breaches in all different directions:

The "Is this really my life?" shot - likely L82 Kasatka

We got to hang out a bit with J2 Granny, which is always excellent but was especially so because I hadn't seen her in a while. Even she got into the playful spirit, swimming on her back and splashing water with her tail:

Inverted tail slap by J2 Granny, estimated to be over 100 years old

One of the things we're most fascinated by at the Orca Behavior Institute is the social associations among the whales, particularly those from different pods. It's a good time to be studying that, as we get different combinations of whales just about every day we go out! Here's just one example, of J19 Shachi traveling with L82 Kasatka. These whales, while part of the same community, spend most of the year apart. What makes them seek out each other's company on days like this? 

25 year old L82 Kasatka (left) and 36 year-old J19 Shachi

Often we see whales surfacing in synchrony, but on this morning J14 Samish and her daughter J40 Suttles were in absolute perfect unision with one another. You might only think there was one whale here, if not for the two heads visible on the left:

Synchronized breathing between mom J14 Samish and daughter J40 Suttles

Here's an off-angle look at the same pair of whales on another surfacing:

Off Spieden Channel we let the lead group of whales, including the L4s, continue on north:

From left to right: L27 Ophelia, L86 Surprise!, and L116 Finn

On our way back home we encountered several more groups of whales, including these two:

L83 Moonlight and her son L110 Midnight

It was an awesome morning, and as it would turn out, it would be the first of many!

September 11 and 13: New Baby L120 and Another Lime Kiln Morning

As is typical for September, members of all three pods have been traveling together. They've been coming and going regularly in and out the Strait of Juan de Fuca, spending a day or two here and then going out west for a day. I made an early morning of it before work on Thursday, September 11 on the west side. I met up with some other hopeful whale waiters, but unfortunately there were no orcas on the west side. The trip out there was not for naught, however (it never is). I saw both Vaux's (181) and black swifts (182), finally adding some birds to the year list, which had been stagnant since July!

The whales did turn up late morning heading towards the south end of San Juan Island, so I went back to the west side for lunch. Bingo! My timing was right on. I saw some whales heading north towards Lime Kiln, and assumed they were probably Js, who are usually in the lead. Then the guy next to me on the rock, who was looking through binoculars, said, "There is a very small whale in there..." Could it be?! Yes! It was new baby L120 and family!

L120 next to L86 Surprise

J49 has been the "baby" of the community for some time now, but he's over two years old. It's been a while since I've seen such a young calf - it was noticeably a very tiny killer whale!

L120's tiny dorsal fin is visible against mama's saddle patch

As has been the case seemingly since L120 was born, probable aunt L27 Ophelia was right by the little one's side as well. The rest of the family was close by, too.

They got up just past Lime Kiln, then turned and went back south, so we got to see the little one twice! 

Can't get enough of these baby pictures, even if the lighting wasn't the best!

Right before the Ls turned south, another whale came just up to the kelp at the south end of Lime Kiln. I couldn't tell who it was because I only saw her head-on, but I heard from a friend who was further south that it was J2 Granny! She got close enough that I could see her saddle patch underwater, and she literally came right up to the edge of the kelp then turned around under water and went back south.

A whale, reportedly J2 Granny, approaches - then turned around underwater within sight of the rocks and went back south

The whales stayed south the rest of the day then swung out west on the 12th, but again were heading back in by Friday evening. There was a book signing in town where many whale lovers were debating when the whales would arrive on the west side. That night before dark? Would they go north during the night? First thing in the morning? I told several people (somewhat tongue in cheek) that my gut feeling was the would be at Lime Kiln at 7 AM. Backing up my belief, I was out at Lime Kiln at 6:45. (Side note: I realize I'm probably in the minority of people who set their alarm earlier on weekends than on weekdays....)

The view of Mt. Rainier to the south was one of the clearest I have ever seen from the island (the picture doesn't quite do it justice):

Mt. Rainier - 130 miles away!

I was looking through binoculars, partly to look at the mountain and partly to scan for whales. Hmm, did I just imagine a dorsal fin? I kept looking.....did I just imagine another? Then a whale breached, erasing any doubts! There they were! I looked at my "watch" (phone): 7:01 AM! And no one else believed me - there was only one other person in the park! (Disclaimer: I'm not usually right when I predict the whales, but if you predict enough, you've gotta be right sometime!)

L87 Onyx in the lead, with J2 Granny right behind

Following Granny and Onyx were Shachi and Eclipse, then the J14s. It's so peaceful to be out there for moments like these! Well worth getting up early for:

There was a little gap between this group and the J16s, who came next. Inshore of the whales it looked like there were a few Dall's porpoise....but they looked a little different. Turns out it was three lags! (Pacific white-side dolphins are often called lags as an abbreviation of their genus, Lagenorhynchus, maybe because their common name is such a mouthful?)

Lags are common further north in BC but for some reason we rarely see them in the San Juans, though there have been quite a few sightings of 1-3 animals this summer. I've seen lags in BC, but this was my first time seeing them in the San Juans, so I was pretty excited! They're one of the only things that could entice me to look away from the orcas!

Three lags in Haro Strait

Lags have two speeds: fast, and faster. They zig-zagged this way and that, and actually came fairly close to shore!

The distinct rounded dorsal fin of a Pacific white-sided dolphin - both our porpoise species have more triangular fins

For some reason, locally lags seem to like to harass the orcas, or at least it looks that way as they buzz around the whales like flies. Particularly the adult males; I've heard of L95 Nigel, L85 Mystery, and L87 Onyx all being tailed by a lag in recent months. These guys were just swimming along paralleling the orcas....

J26 Mike in the background, lags in the foreground

....but when J26 Mike surfaced, they made a 90 degree turn and headed straight for him!!!

Three lags speed towards Mike

He proceeded to go down on a long dive - we didn't see him again for something like seven minutes, and the lags proceeded on their way north. So cool to see a little bit of inter-species interaction, even if we have no idea what it means!

More whales were visible to the south, and would remain so for the next several hours, but they never came up north. The J16s were the last whales to actually pass Lime Kiln, rounding out J-Pod Group A and continuing north.

J36 Alki

I'm just in love with being out at Lime Kiln early in the morning. The sightings have been fantastic, and I know such mornings are limited before it gets too dark and cold to hang out there! The lighting is so magical, no matter what you're looking at.

California gull