At 1:25am, the burst of calls from Flower Island hydrophone broke the silent night. The calls were from the A34s and A23s. They were very chatty at the beginning and 5 minutes later, the calls dropped down suddenly. After that there were lots of echolocation clicks and whistles. This moment continued until the A5 opened up again at 2:04am. Thanks to Tomoko who was listening to the audio stream in Japan, we learned the A25s were there too. We realized the A50s were also with them at 2:26am. There were some suspicious imitation calls but those remained a mystery. Georgia and Momoko were outside of the lab listening to the blows going south while Helena was recording. This was Georgia’s last night at the Lab. The A50s, A23s, A25s and A34s travelled into Johnstone Strait and their blows cleared to the south around 3:21am.
The orcas kept going to the east in the Strait and Strider Rubbing Beach hydrophone detected the first chuff sound of the day at 5:20am. The dawn light was not enough to follow them on our remote camera but we knew the A5s (likely the A23s) were rubbing according to the calls. The A50s remained off shore. The rub ended at 5:27am and the A5 group kept going to the east from the rubbing beaches. A series of rubbing sessions started at 6:25am, the A67s rubbed 5 times in and out and ended at 7:40am. The remote underwater camera captured some beautiful footage. The A67s left the rubbing beaches to the west into the fog.
Meanwhile, we realized there were blows going north in the foggy Blackney Pass at 7:14am. At 7:34am, we started hearing the A30 and A34 calls on Flower Island hydrophone, which indicated the A50s and A34 group had passed us and into Blackfish Sound. They got excited and there were more puzzling imitation calls again.
Going back to the Strait, the A67s were seen in Robson Bight, going to the west on Critical Point camera. It was now 8:01am. Kaizumi Rubbing beach hydrophone detected their calls at 9:02am.
The research vessel Achiever crew visited the Lab in the late morning and talked about their latest research project. Very interesting!
At 12:22pm, there was a report of a group around Telegraph Cove/ Beaver Cove area. We assumed they were the A67s who had kept going west in the Strait.
Sudden chuff sounds came from Strider Rubbing Beach hydrophone at 1:22pm. The underwater camera captured wonderful footage of the A23s. The rubbing finished at 1:30pm, and the A23s went to the west from the rubbing beaches. They came to the Critical Point camera view at 1:52pm, two minutes later there was a strong echolocation on the Critical Point hydrophone. The A23s kept going west, most likely the A25s were with them but not obviously nearby. While going west of Robson Bight, a big group of Pacific White-sided dolphins created a lovely foraging scene close to the shoreline between 2:18pm and 2:22pm.
At 2:47pm, CETUS noted that a group of 8 orcas were resting and going east, close to Vancouver Island shoreline just west of Tsitika River estuary. This was assumed to be the A23s. Also they mentioned groups of 4 and 3 midstrait to Craicroft Island side, going west. But who?
At 2:49, the A23s and A25s were seen going east on the Critical Point camera. They were in a resting line and tight together and went out from the camera view to the east at 3:15pm. It was a beautiful and peaceful scene.
At 3pm, the A23s and A25s started rubbing. We were able to identify A95, A60 and A61. The nice’n clear underwater camera captured another stunning footage. The rubbing ended at 3:58pm and they left the rubbing beaches to the east.
Dylan Smith mentioned the A50s were coming into Blackney Pass. We spotted them at 4:27pm, going south. They were completely silent and looked like they were resting. The A50s cleared from our view to the south at 4:51pm. 7 minutes later, they came into Cracroft camera view and started foraging in the entrance of Blackney Pass until 6:59pm.
Meanwhile, Georgia in Alert Bay reported a group of 6 orcas in front of Alert Bay going west. Most likely Bigg’s. We assumed this was the mystery group who reported by CETUS earlier.
The A50s came back to Blackney Pass at 7:04pm in the beautiful sunset light. The progress was slow, lots of foraging going on while passing. It took them for 50 minutes to get to Blackfish Sound. Their calls lasted until 8:37pm.
The day was not finished! At some point, A34’’s small immediate group, had joined her daughter’s group in Beaver Cove by travelling south in Weynton Pass and then once all together they headed to Blackfish Sound through Weynton Pass again. Flower Island hydrophone picked up their calls at 10:03pm. The tide was ebbing and their calls faded and the last calls we heard were at 10:48pm. We had a lovely time after the dinner, listening to Paul’s story. We had sadly said goodbye to Georgia earlier and welcomed Oliver today..
