This day was like shuffling and a pack of cards then cards scatter every which way. The Residents totally mixed it up, going in multiple directions, choosing different partnerships, doing different behaviours. It was enough to make one’s head spin but it was fascinating at the same time.
This was Tomoko’s last day and she virtually never left the Lab except to catch a brief sleep after her 3am to 7am shift. She did not want to miss a beat and was determined to keep track – of everything. She had her work cut out for her.
While still late August 10th, the first thing she surmised was that the A50s and A23s must have turned soon after their entry into Johnstone Strait via Weynton Pass but not before they hooked up with the A25s and before the A34s arrived in the Strait. There was an intriguing gap from the time the A34s were seen going into Weynton Pass headed for Johnstone Strait and when they arrived sometime just before 11pm. That is a really slow going. Normally it takes about 30 minutes or so. When they entered and called there were no answers from the others. Had they already crossed paths with the outgoing A23s, A50s, and A25s somewhere in Weynton Pass?
This was the prequel to the start of August 11th. The A34s continued east in the Strait and made it all the way to Strider beach for a rub that started at 4:10am. Seven minutes later they were done and went east with calls and echolocation toggling between the Main beach and Strider systems. They did not commit to going west until just before 6am. On their way west, by 6:30am, some of the group were very close to the shore and sure enough they slipped in for a rub a minute later. Dylan, watching on explore.org, before he went to work, recognised the A67s. A67 (or Eclipse) is A34’s second oldest daughter and has had four babies of her own. Unlike Misty (A62), the oldest daughter, she still travels consistently with her mother Simoom and other siblings.
Rainy (A96) was also there with her little one, A132. Both were identified by Dylan. This beautiful rub ended at 7:12am and there was time enough for another short rub from 7:24 – 7:31am involving A34 and her son Hope (A80) before the whole group continued west.
Everyone was so involved in the spectacular rub that they missed the A23s, A25s and A50s travelling through Blackney Pass! The whales gave no sign, no calls and the first thing we were aware of was a report of whales in Blackney Pass entranceway. This was at 7:11am just before the first rub down at Strider was about to finish. By 7:42am, these three groups moved west to Big Bay on Hanson Island. We could hear them now and CP remarked that they were resting and foraging before finally crossing toward Vancouver Island around 8:40am. Twelve minutes later the A50s were identified opposite Blinkhorn with another group (possibly the A23s) mid strait.
By 9:26am, the A50s together with the A25s were off Telegraph Cove. A60 was just further back from them. A group (the rest of the A23s) had moved ahead toward Lewis Point.
Further east in the Strait, the A34s, also going west, had arrived off of Kaizumi. The tall A55 (Echo), being the easiest to track, was seen moving past Kaizumi beach at 9:42am and then past Kaikash at 9:35am. This would be one of the rare moments in the day that all the groups were in the same body of water, going the same direction.
A couple of joy riding speedy, noisy, disturbing jet skis were in the Strait as well.
Just before 10am, Scotty announced that the A50s, A23s and A25s had made it to Beaver Cove. Beaver Cove is a beautifully wide and large bay, but it is still an industrial logging site. For some reason the orcas like to go into Beaver Cove to forage. The absent A42s in particular will spend hours in this cove.
The scene got a little bit more complicated at 10:24am with the sighting of four Bigg’s orcas (the T099s) heading north towards Stubbs Island. Yet another example of the near daily instances of Bigg’s and Residents cohabitating in the same area. The T099s would later angle over and move away through Cormorant Channel between Alert Bay and Sointula.
One intriguing report claimed that orcas were by the fuel dock right in Telegraph Cove around the 10:45am mark. They were never identified but as Telegraph Cove is east of Beaver Cove where the majority of the whales were it made us wonder if it could be part of the A34s. We had to leave it with that speculation.
After more calling the orcas decided it was time to head to Blackfish Sound via Weynton Pass. Dylan let us know at 11:43am that this was what was happening. The A34s were identified at 12:05pm and at 12:24pm all the groups were spread out around Stubbs Island and beginning to enter Blackfish Sound. We heard calls as they emerged from Weynton Pass.
A side note: Megan keeping tabs still on the distant A42s messaged that they were Penn Island at 11:44am. Edging closer it would seem, or maybe not? They have been in the Salish Sea for a very long time now. When will they venture back?
Anyway, once in Blackfish Sound things started to change. At 1pm, Nicolette informed us that the orcas were heading east toward Blackney Pass. StraitWatch confirmed this saying that they were also whales coming from Bold Head. Calls and echolocation continued. We took a sneak look using the zoom on the remote sea lion camera which can see well into Blackfish Sound. With the Base camera, we watched nervously as the jet skis left the Strait and went down Baronet Pass. At least they were not going toward the whales this time.
But the whales were coming toward us! At 1:36pm we heard reports that they were approaching Burnt Point. Burnt Point obscures our view to the west on the Hanson Island side, so we waited. Sure enough at 1:45pm A84, (Kloaitis), appeared. He was very slow, the current was against him. A few others followed.
Surge (A61) chose then to favour the Hanson Island side. The rest of his family, Cordero (A85) and Twilight (A121), were not far away.
Twilight’s birth in 2019 had been so welcomed. Cordero and Surge had seemed a bit lost after the untimely death of Cordero’s mother, Suge’s sister, Nodales in 2011. Cordero was so young and for a while she and Surge found separate homes with other groups. Cordero was fostered by Ripple’s A23 family while Surge travelled with Holly’s A42 family. They did this for a couple of years before coming back together. So when Twilight was born it seemed that the future of this little group was more hopeful.
On this occasion, while the orcas were passing through, the small groups of A50s and A23s eventually converged and travelled as a single, tight group as they negotiated their way through several boats. As they passed Parson Island they began to pull increasingly away from each other. The A25s cleared our view at 2:19pm and the rest followed at 2:26pm.
It was then over to CP to describe the whales’ entrance into Johnstone Strait. The A25s followed ten minutes behind a group of Dalls Porpoise. This small family favoured Little Hanson at 2:25pm and looked as if they might go west at first. The A23s were next at 2:32pm but they moved towards Cracroft Point. A60 (Fife) was travelling close to Bend (A72). The succession of orcas continued with the third group, the rest of the A50s, coming out at 2:38pm. A50 (Clio) and A123 were sandwiched between A99 (Alder) and A84 (Kloaitis).
Generally, from CP the whales initially advanced toward the Reserve.
While these whales were sorting their re-entry into Johnstone Strait – remember they only left around 11:45am – the A34s edged closer to the Lab from Blackfish Sound. A80 (Hope) was first and a few others followed. Watching, it became clear that they had little interest in coming through. Instead, just before 3pm they left back to the north, never having come as far as the Lab. Hope drifted to mid channel before disappearing ahead of the others. And that was that. The A34s continued to dance to their own tune and keep us guessing.
As the A34s retreated to the western side of Blackfish Sound things took on a different hue. The whales now decided on different agendas to follow. The A23s went east initially but eventually returned and parked themselves off of CP. The A25s carried on in the direction of the Reserve as did the A50s.
The A23s stayed put off CP. From 4:24pm until 7:30pm when they travelled through Blackney Pass to the north, the A23s did not leave the wide area from CP, the rip, and the entrance to Blackney Pass. CP described in their notes many details of the foraging and milling behaviours of individuals in the group.
While the A23s were so engaged, the other groups were busy as well. Even though the A25s would be first to be heard close to Critical Point in Robson Bight, it was the A50s who made it to Strider first. Their first rub began at 5:29pm and would not finish until 5:51pm. Their second was from 6pm to 6:19pm. They even managed a few rubs at Main during these times. From Strider they went west and arrived off Critical Point at 6:45pm. They must have literally passed the A25s who were still close to Critical Point at 6:25pm, having remained near the Bight while the A50s were rubbing.
Remember, the A23s left the area off of CP and went north in Blackney Pass to Blackfish Sound around 7:30pm.
The A25s finally went east to Strider and from 8:34pm to 8:46pm Surge had his own lazy rub. He headed offshore as Cordero and Twilight were now ahead and further offshore. In the fading still beautiful misty light we watched as they continued east on the Vancouver Island side. This was not the end of their evening by any means.
Backtracking, the A34s, after their near visit to Blackney Pass, travelled through Blackfish Sound and by 4pm turned north between Stubbs Island and Donegal Head. They were preparing to go through Weynton Pass back to Johnstone Strait. At 7:08pm Scotty reported that they were off Bauza Cove. From there they continued east to Cracroft Point and by 8:35pm, with A67 and A125 the closest, they were spread out from the Cracroft Island side to mid strait. This was the same time as when the A25s were now rubbing in the Reserve and the A23s already in Blackfish Sound.
With the A34s travelling from western end of Johnstone Strait, the A23s in Blackfish Sound, the A50s and A25s near the Reserve, what followed was a “tetris” of calls, a three dimensional acoustic puzzle spread over considerable real estate: Different groups in different places, distant and close calls, echolocation, rubs, whistles and more.
The A34s turned back to the west around 9pm soon after gaining Cracroft Point. Just about twenty minutes later, at 9:23pm they were into Blackney Pass and going north. They made it to Blackfish Sound after 9:50pm.
The A50s were not too far behind. They had, after their time in the Reserve, turned to the west too, and an hour and a half after the A34s had done so, they negotiated their way north into Blackfish Sound via Blackney Pass. This meant that three of the four groups had ended up more or less in the same place. It was now 11pm. The A25s had already let us know that they were still in the Strait and intended to remain there through midnight.
A buzzy sort of day with one additional note from Megan that the A42s went south through Plumper Pass into Sutil Channel around 4:30pm. Whales everywhere, apparently!
