Calls from the A50s carried over from July 22nd into the early hours of the 23rd in Blackfish Sound. At 12:03am, Alex reported hearing 7–8 blows passing Donegal Head, Malcolm Island, confirming the presence of the A50s (7 individuals). Calls paused between 12:06am and 1:10am. At 1:11am, calls resumed in Johnstone Strait, suggesting the A50s had traveled through Weynton Passage. During this quiet interval, dolphin chatter was noted on the Strider Rubbing Beach hydrophone.
From 1:11am to 1:35am, faint A50s calls continued in the Strait before pausing again. At 2:10am, echolocation and distant calls were heard on Strider. By 2:36am, calls were detected on both Strider and Kaizumi Rubbing Beach hydrophones, indicating the A50s were on the Hanson Island side of Johnstone Strait. Boat noise masked much of the activity by 2:45am. At 3:10am, calls and echolocation picked up again on Strider, joined at 3:13am by humpback vocals off Cracroft Point. By 3:30am, calls became intermittent and stopped at 4:37am.
The remainder of the morning was quiet. Attention turned to the whereabouts of both the A50s and the A62s observed the previous day.
At 1:15 PM, a humpback bubble net feeding event was heard in Blackfish Sound. At 1:30pm, Megan reported the A42s plus A94 were seen in Subtle Channel traveling toward Subtle Island.
Around the same time, Seasmoke Whale Watching confirmed the A50s at the top of Blackfish Sound. This was quickly followed by a report from Nicolette at Double Bay Sanctuary that they could hear calls on their hydrophone and by 1:32 PM we were hearing them on our Flower Island hydrophone. Faint calls and echolocation, mixed with boat noise, continued until approximately 8:00 PM.
At 4:00 PM, CETUS reported T046B1s and T046C2s entering Blackney Passage from the south. We observed the Bigg’s group at 4:05 PM along Parson Island, slowly traveling north. At 4:15 PM, Jared confirmed the A50s near Bold Head on Swanson Island. T046B1s and T046C2s were last seen at 4:35 PM, still heading north. At 4:57 PM, Alex reported the Bigg’s passing the A50s in Blackfish Sound. Shortly after, at 5:08 PM, three humpback bubble net feeding events were recorded. Around 7:00 PM, distant orca blows were observed on the Sea Lion Rock camera. By 7:57 PM, calls had stopped on Flower Island as the A50s moved beyond hydrophone range.
At 9:00 PM, distant calls resumed on Flower Island. By 11:00 PM, the calls mixed with echolocation were noticeably louder and clearer, meaning they were moving east in Blackfish Sound toward Blackney Pass. At 11:15 PM, calls were heard on the Local Center and Parson Island hydrophones. Shortly after, around 11:25 PM, calls began again in Blackfish Sound, to join the calls in Blackney Passage and those beginning in Johnstone Strait as the A50s made their way south. By 11:38, calls had stopped in Blackfish Sound and began again in Blackney Passage as more members of the A50s moved towards the Strait. As the day came to a close, calls became frequent in Johnstone Strait primarily on the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach hydrophone, and continued into the early hours of July 24th.
Words by Katelyn
