San Juan Whale Watching

We started our trip without an “orca report” and 25 Audubon campers aboard.  The weather conditions helped us decide to go north as we kept listening to see if anyone had seen the whales today.  We found an adult Bald eagle in the nest on a small island to the north, who looked very busy poking it’s head down into the nest.  Hum?!  Then, a sighting of orcas came in!  Our trip took us all the way to the Discovery Islands, near the southern tip of Vancouver Island!  There we found part of L pod that had not been sighted in the area yet this summer!  SO, that was big news.  The water was a bit “bouncy” and we had come a long way, so we couldn’t stay too long, but we got really great viewing of the L2’s, including the large male!    This afternoon’s trip took us north to the top of San Juan Island on the west side.  The whales we had watched yesterday, we now heading north along San Juan Island!  So.  That mystery solved!  We were able to watch J-1, Ruffles for a long time as he came along in Haro Strait, and crossed toward the same lighthouse they had rounded yesterday afternoon.  This group of whales seemed on a traveling mission, but took time out for some great foraging behavior.  Let’s hope it was rewarded with lots of fish!  On our way back to Friday Harbor we wound our way through the Cactus Islands again.  However, today….what a surprise!  We heard Bald eagles calling back and forth with excitement.  Then we saw two immature Bald eagles, in their beautiful brown spotted feathers, and one had the white tail already! The did several fly bys and then the twirling in the air above and below each other behavior.   They landed on the rocky shore and hopped behind some rocks.   Then two adult Bald eagles  came soaring from the trees and landed in the same spot.  There was definitely something to eat behind the rocks on shore.  But what was all the noise about?  Then we saw it!  This year’s “chick” was hopping up and down at the base of the tree above the cliff.  It was huge!  For all the world it seemed like the chick had somehow landed on the ground, and now couldn’t decide if it could actually fly down to the food with the rest of the birds.  It seemed to consider hopping along a shore path, but then leaned over the cliff….no, back, no, over, no….    We were all thinking, “You can do it!”  Suddenly the youngster did four “fly-hops” and a glide…right down to what was left of the opportunistic snack.  We literally cheered!  What a sight.  A first flight?  Well, maybe a second flight, as somehow it had to get from the nest to the forest floor!   Another day where, as we often say, “We can tell you exactly what we’re going to see, when we get back to the dock!”