Tuesday, January 30, 2018

1-30-18 Sounds of J Pod from Sunday-Jan 28th

Sunday, January 28th

...well, it's back to talking about those fish sounds (sound like a burp) again...when talking with a couple last week, they mentioned that just because there is only one burp, that doesn't mean there aren't more that are just in reaching the HPs...oh, yeah!... 
...since the relocation of the hydrophones, I had to restart the listening process comparison all over again...added to that, is the decrease in salmon moving through - but I am not saying it's salmon but the sounds are related to the whales showing up, and the whales show up when there are salmon, so...
...my time frame is from November through March...and since the relocations of the LK hydrophones (which are not there for Jeanne to listen to strange things), from time to time I will hear one of those sounds, but so seldom that I haven't paid much attention to them...usually save the clip or make a notation when I hear one...on January 25, 26, and 27 I heard one or two burp sounds...I didn't pay much attention to them - too infrequent - or were they?
...I had no idea where J Pod had gone, based on the last sighting/hearing of them - hearing was on the 24th, early in the morning and so faint I was surprised they woke me up...but only three calls-2 off Lime Kiln HPs and 1 off Orca Sound HPs...that gave me a clue as to possible location, because the three calls were so close together it had to be where the two HPs most distant reach, crossed...hmmm, only a few spots...but I was so set on them going north I noted the burps but didn't get beyond that...they could have gone either direction...
 

...so four days later, when word came that J Pod was in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, those burp sounds grew in significance...whatever is moving about ahead of the whales, by several hours (that's when it starts) and ends once the whales show up (really) may not require hearing an increase in burps...since the landscape has changed!
...what does it mean? who knows...I just know there is a relationship between those burp sounds and the whales showing up.
What are they?  Who are they?...who knows!...I only know I have increased my 'alert system' for those sounds...
..the common denominator for these is that there aren't other related sounds before or after...it's just the one burp sound, nothing else... here's a sample of 4 of those sounds recorded at different times and in different years...


...by the time the whales reached Haro Strait it was almost too dark to get a glimpse of them all the way on the far side, coming out of Baynes Channel...
...it took a while before they were heard over the hydrophones and they were far offshore...but then...
...And this one - the best, but for a different reason than one might think...
...overall, it has been a long time since hearing the whales like this...it was heartwarming...

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