When we left off the A23s were engaged with families from the G01pod after they made a very late Fall visit to the Johnstone Strait area. It’s not entirely unheard of for G clan members to visit late in the year as they often come to take advantage of the Chum salmon migration. Chum, essential to the diet of Resident orcas, are the last of the salmon to make their run to their natal rivers. In the past these runs were plentiful but in recent times have become depleted which may have caused the Gs to look elsewhere and so visits became sparse. The 2024 Chum run was more bountiful and Resident orcas along the coast enjoyed this taste of the past.
What was rather interesting about this December G clan encounter in the Johnstone Strait was not just its brevity but also its complexity.
First to be reported on December 2 were orcas from G12 pod, the G27s and G53s. These whales never fully made it to Johnstone Strait. Instead they retreated back west in Queen Charlotte Strait just as it was then realised that families from G01 pod had successfully entered Johnstone Strait. But these G01s also did not linger and within short order seemingly followed the G12s back to Queen Charlotte Strait.
After a day’s pause, on December 4, G clan whales were back in Johnstone Strait. But this time the group identified acoustically were the G17s, another family group of the G01 pod. The encounter began just after 6am. By 6:40am it was realised that the A23s and A25s were there too. Just before 9am at least the A23s and A25s were all on their way north through Blackfish Sound as observed by Alex from afar. The rest of December 4th was rounded off by beautiful humpback singing.
The next ten days were to hold other events but no repeat of the G clan visit. Humpback whales continued to remind us that not all had left for their migration as they were heard nearly each day (December 5, 6, 8, 9). The December 8 recording included what sounded like “bubble net feeding.”
Bigg’s orcas were not to be outdone and in the afternoon of December 8th the T060s showed up in Blackney Pass, then the T019s were seen in Blackney heading north the next day.
December 9th was rather special. Starting at 8:33pm a humpback whale was detected acoustically in Johnstone Strait. Twenty minutes later Bigg’s orcas were also heard and twenty minutes after that Resident orcas. Through the next several hours their contributions continued. The Residents started off on the Parson Island system but then progressed eastward further into Johnstone Strait. By 9pm the Bigg’s orcas were becoming fainter as they shifted to the west and the Resident “A” calls became more frequent. Eventually, the humpback and the Resident calls became more distant. Just less than an hour after the last Bigg’s calls in Johnstone Strait (9:33pm) Bigg’s (the same group) were heard in Blackfish Sound (10:23pm). They became louder for a while but by 10:51pm no further calls were heard. The Residents ceased at 10:18pm while closer to the entrance of Blackney Pass, near the same area they had begun. This is also where the humpback was last heard at 10:40pm.
This was not the first time these diverse whales were heard concurrently in the same location but however sparse they never fail to surprise.
December 9 was also noteworthy because Cam and Mat saw the humpback, Hitchhiker and according to MERS (Marine Educational and Research Society), this was the first sighting of this whale in this area. Humpback Val was also seen on this day.
On December 10 the Lab saw the humpbacks Chinook and Kailash.
On December 12 Bigg’s orcas were heard yet again just past midnight. As testament to the observer network, Bruce McMorran near Echo Bay saw and reported a group headed toward Tribune Channel around 2pm. Then Troy at Bere Point saw a group of 6 orcas that included a large male at 4:30pm. No identification was possible.
On the 12th, there were three humpbacks, Barracuda and possibly Clover and Meadow.
Though winter approaches we are fortunate to be not bereft of the company of whales. Residents have not entirely disappeared, on December 11th and 14th “As” were heard again in Johnstone Strait, and on December 15th it looked like the A23s passed by to the north in Blackney just before dark. Additionally, a humpback was vocal that very morning around 9:40am and three were seen travelling together in Blackney.
