J-Pod & a Humpback Whale

Whales, Pinnipeds and Sea Birds

We saw a few sea birds on the way out to the whales today, including, Bald Eagle, and a young Great Blue Heron. I included a couple of the Heron because I have never captured this angle before and seen how his eyes are facing forward. He is kinda goofy looking from this angle. I have see the same effect on bald eagles too. Eventually we were with J-Pod & a Humpback Whale.

We got a few looks at the Steller Sea Lions and Harbor Seals before moving on to whales. Then our first whale was a Humpback that has been hanging in the same general area for a week now, just feeding on bait balls, sometimes lunge feeding as you can see in my Whale Tales post from a week ago.

Minke chased by Biggs

A couple Minke Whale in passing but no pics today. Then we were with the beloved J-Pod. We were primarily seeing the J-22 matriline which is Oreo and J38 Cookie. We also saw Onyx with this group today. Onyx, L87, is the only orca we know of who switched pods when his mom died. He ended up being adopted by J2 Granny. Whenever she was present he would be close by. Three years ago when Granny died, there was a quesiton about what Onyx would do. He stayed with J-Pod.

One of the pics of a whale starting to exit the water takes the term “surface tension” to the extreme. I noticed some mirage effect while viewing vessels and whales at a distance. I am sorry to say I saw it in some of my pics too. The focus sensor does not know what to do with mirage effect. I left most of those pics out but I still see it in a couple from today. This will be a new problem I will have to deal with taking pics of whales that are at a minimum of 300 yards away per the new laws that came into effect this year.

We did not have an afternoon tour today but I learned that the T99’s tried to kill a Minke Whale. T99 herself I am told made a hit on the whale but then the whale put it in high gear and escaped.