May 16
5/16/2009 ORCASOUND
22:10 - Jan start listening. Faint call on the Orcasound hydrophone. 22:16 -They are calling occasionally. Probably Jpod. 22:21 - Calls are fading away. 22:25 -The whales are coming closer. 22:37 Calls are fading away. 22:53-Occasionaly faint calls audible after a short period of 15 minutes silence. 23:04 Jan stop listening. Switching to Limekiln.
5/16/2009 LIMEKILN
23:07 - Jan start listening. Calls of J pod are audible. There is some boat noise. 23:20 Calls stop.

May 16
1805: Vickie from Kent and Carlie from Edmonton reported hearing calls first. Sound like S44 looks but not sure.
1818: Clear calls, buzzes pops on Orca Sound hydrophones. Recording.
Eric McRae

May 16
Calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophones - for a couple minutes then faded out beginning at 1748, it's 1752 now.
Update at 8 pm: Still hearing calls, squeeks, and what sounded like possible echolocation? (sounds like tapping on metal..) I think the echolocation was happening during what sounded like some blow hole burps, very low sounding squeeks (like a human with gas! hah) so was assuming they were possibly hunting some fish/prey? It went on and off for about 30-40 minutes, never really fading out, staying in the same area and very clear. The echolocation was very loud.
I also heard alot of boats, some seem very fast and loud. A big ship passed, about a little bit after 1900, for about a half hour, and now I'm getting ALOT of noise of squeeks, and squeals and calls!!! It's not extremely loud, but it's very audible. I started listening at 1738, got calls at 1748 and continued until now (2000), and we are still getting them. More the squeeks and squeals this time. Sounds like several, rather than a few? I'm just learning the hydrophone listening.. It's like being blind, I can hear but can't see! I'll be up on San Juan Island tomorrow for the day!
Vickie Doyle, Kent

May 16
I heard calls at around 6:40 (Edmonton time) Short bursts. Possibly hunting calls. Still listening, but haven't heard anything recently. Will let you know if any other sounds are heard.
Carlie

May 16
From 5:30-7:30 PM we watched a very spread out J-Pod head slowly south past Lime Kiln Lighthouse.
Monika Wieland, San Juan Island

May 16
J pod went south past Landbank between 5:20pm and 5:50pm, traveling slowly and widely spread on glassy water. When we returned from a tasty and fun Whale Museum Greeting Ceremony benefit dinner (a big thank you to all those who worked so hard to put this event on), J16 and her family were hanging out at Landbank at about 9pm, heading south but being pushed by the flood tide north. The "whoosh," "whoosh's" were loud and magical. After staying in the same hundred yards or so for at least a half hour, J16 and family picked up speed and began traveling south. It was getting pretty dark by this time. Almost as soon as the J16's moved south, J27 and his siblings appeared, whoosh, whooshing and moving south. Three whales came within 10 yards of shore, Ruffles (J1) and Granny (J2) and another whale that I could not identify by sight, but that had a familiar whistle--must be Speiden (J8) I'm thinking. Ruffles' exhalations in such still air exploded in the night. As I wrote this, faint calls at the LimeKiln hydrophones were becoming louder, but after boat noise came and went, the calls have disappeared, at least for now. Cheers and thanks for all you do.
Sharon Grace, San Juan Island

May 16
May 16th, we were on the road to lime kiln around 6:45 pm and saw the two adult whales, but we saw three babies. Two were still small, and one was very tiny, smaller than the two. It looks like it was J pod, J44 and J45, but who was that small-small one? It almost looked like a porpoise, and if we didn't hear it's exhalation, we thought it just might be. One of the bigger but still small babies, stayed near an adult. The other bigger small baby swam a little bit away, and the tiny one stayed with that one. And the other adult stayed in closer to shore? Just wanted to mention it. We were lucky to see them whoever they were!
The Kane Family, Sammamish, WA