We are still reveling in our last picture perfect day on the water!

While our time in Puget Sound with the Center for Whale Research is over for this year, we are now turning our efforts to data analysis, annotating both hydrophone recordings and drone footage and syncing all the various data streams to bring it all together and hopefully get our first take of what vocalizations were happening from the whales observed from the air.

There may be a lot of computer time ahead of us over the winter, but we are still reveling in our last picture perfect day on the water. Not only was all the equipment working and the whales vocalizing, but the conditions were the best we had seen all trip. We were lucky enough to spend some quality time with this focal group of Southern Resident killer whales, where interestingly the seven whales present represent six different matrilines!

The four whales in the front from left to right are J46 Star, K27 Deadhead, J42 Echo, and K43 Saturna. K45 Uhura is the little whale who is upside down, and K42 Kelp the bigger whale in the back. We love observing these social groups where instead of traveling in matrilines, the whales are all "mixed up"!

And you can see what I mean about the conditions. With no ripples or reflections on the water and high water clarity, it is very easy to see and identify the whales, and to monitor any subtle changes in behavior. This is a still image from one of our seven successful drone flights that day!