Sunday, July 10, 2016

7-10-16 J Pod Whales in a Hurry

Sunday, July 10th
(In J Pod Land it's only May 3rd) !
...this pattern is what J Pod used to do in May, so I'm setting my J Pod calendar watch to May :)
...J Pod coming down Rosario Strait...a long way across but out on Peregrine we went...as we are just arriving...
...and then...
...Echo...once again porpoising to catch up to someone...
...Mike J-26 crossed over off our bow and headed toward the others...
...the whales that were farthest west in Rosario made a definite direction adjustment and crossed over Rosario, angling down...seeming to be in a hurry to get somewhere, but where?
...they ended up foraging near Deception Island for a while before heading west and then north up the west side of San Juan Island...there they stopped again and spent several hours, a few passing Lime Kiln lighthouse in the late afternoon with others miles from shore going up island...but those turned and went back down island...
...they were anywhere from just south of Lime Kiln Park to Eagle Pt. over the next several hours before they were heard over the hydrophones at 8:30 pm...
...I saw them passing where I live at about 9pm...going up island...



Same day:  the T49As 
...this is the family group that was seen off Newport, Oregon on June 22nd...it's also the family who has one member who keeps leaving the family and showing up with others...that would be T49A2...link to prior recent post about T49A2...and of course T49A2 was not with them today...
...mom - T49A, however, has a new set of wounds - I call them that because the rake marks from someone's teeth caused all that 'mess'...!

...T49A1 is looking like an adult now, but he's only 15 years old, according to the DFO (Canada Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans ID charts)...so that dorsal fin of his has the potential of more growth!

...the other two offspring who travel with mom are T49A3 and T49A4...

...this family was photographed off the Oregon coast on June 22nd...they do get around!...they were last seen on this day heading north...who knows when they will show up again - they live in a very large range.
 

No comments: