Calls in Johnstone Strait continued in the early hours of July 24th. At approximately 12:15 AM, calls moved east from the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach hydrophone to the Critical Point hydrophone on the western side of the Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve. Intermittent calls continued in the Strait as the A50 matriline made their way towards the rubbing beaches. Around 12:59 AM, echolocation was heard on the Strider Rubbing Beach hydrophone informing us they were pointed that way. Around 1:30 AM, calls and echolocation were heard again on the Critical Point Hydrophone at the mouth of the Tsitika River. This continued until about 2:05 AM when they moved on to Strider Rubbing Beach for a rub. At 2:15 AM, the first “chuff” occurred, alerting us to the beginning of the rub. The A50s were very vocal while rubbing, calling, whistling, and using echolocation. By 2:20 AM, the rub had ended, and they had moved offshore. Beautiful, clear calls continued until they were masked by boat noise around 2:45 AM. Faint calls continued in the Strait until about 5:00 AM. We didn’t hear them again until around 8:40 AM.
At 5:01 AM, a single humpback bubble net feeding event was heard in Blackfish Sound.
At 8:41 AM, calls were heard first on the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach hydrophone before quickly moving to the Cracroft Point hydrophone and the Parson Island hydrophone, alerting us that the A50s were quickly making their way into Blackney Passage. At 8:45 AM, we spotted the A50s traveling tight together, making their way north in the Blackney Pass. This was the first time this summer that Northern Residents passed the Lab during daylight hours, and for many of the new assistants, the first time they had seen Northern Residents. During this passage, one of the young whales also breached 3 to 4 times. They passed quickly, traveling north with the ebbing tide, and cleared our view by 9:10 AM. The A50s called some in Blackfish Sound, but most calls were masked or drowned out by boat noise.
Around noon, Megan reported that the A42s plus A94 were at Wilby Shoals foraging, just south of Quadra Island.
At 2:15 PM, calls were again heard in Blackfish Sound. Calls and echolocation continued through heavy boat noise until 2:30 PM. At 2:44 PM, the A50s were spotted in Blackney Passage traveling south. Like earlier in the day, they were traveling with the current, but this time they were traveling tightly together. They moved out of our direct line of sight at 2:58 PM, but they were quickly spotted on the Cracroft Point camera as they traveled east in Johnstone Strait. They were quiet as they traveled east again towards the Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve. The A50s began calling again in the Strait around 3:05 PM and continued calling infrequently. At 3:49 PM CETUS reported that the A50s had passed Kaizumi Rubbing beach offshore and again reported at 4:21 PM that they had crossed into the reserve. Shortly after this report, the A50s were visible on the Critical Point remote camera as they briefly foraged at the mouth of the Tsitika River before moving on towards Strider Rubbing Beach.
At 5:09 PM, the first “chuff” was heard at Strider Rubbing Beach signaling the beginning of the rub. The sound made by an orca hitting the rocks is what we call a “chuff”. The rub lasted for about 45 minutes and was full of chuffs, whistles, echolocation, funky vocalizations, and calls. While we were a bit sad that no members of the A50s rubbed in front of the underwater camera, we were excited to see them pass by on the surface and follow them with the above-water camera. There was also some surface activity during the rub with orcas’ tail slapping and spyhopping. By 5:56 PM, the A50s had moved offshore from the rubbing beach and turned back west. They again briefly foraged near Critical Point before disappearing for a while.
Based on their patterns earlier in the day, we wondered if they might try to slip through Blackney Pass without or with minimal calls. While remaining completely silent, the A50s were spotted at 8:36 PM heading north through Blackney Passage, catching us by surprise. Travelling close together mid-channel, they cleared Blackney Pass by 8:45 PM. For about 15 minutes, the A50s foraged and intermittently called in Blackfish Sound before going quiet. Again, around 9:20 PM, they called for about 5 minutes before they vanished for the rest of the night of the 24th into Queen Charlotte Strait.
We continued to enjoy the visit from Andrew and Alissa. Anna and Jamie arrived later in the afternoon after being picked-up in Telegraph Cove after the much needed town run.
Words by Katelyn & Freddy
