This very complicated and exciting day started at 3:24am with a report of calls on the Double Bay hydrophone. Three minutes later, calls were heard on our hydrophone in Blackfish Sound. The calls were quickly identified as belonging to members of the A4 and A5 pods. A1 calls joined these calls at 4:30am as they moved east into Blackfish Sound. Around 4:45am, the sound of a humpback bubble net feeding commingled with the calls of the A1s, A4s, and A5s.
By 5:09am, the A5 calls stopped in Blackfish Sound but the continuing A1 pod calls were identified as belonging to both its A30 and A34 matrilines. At 5:36am, orcas were spotted heading south in Blackney Passage. The distinctive dorsal fin of A60, Fife, was quickly identified, confirming that the A5 calls previously heard in Blackfish Sound had belonged to his A23 family. We came to understand that the A52s, members of A4 pod, must have slipped through Blackney Passage silently around the same time as the more vocal A23s when they were later heard in Johnstone Strait at 6:10am.
At 6:55am, Alex saw the A50s headed towards Stubbs Island from Blackfish Sound. She was also keeping track of another A1 group, the A34s, who were foraging off the White Cliff Islets in Queen Charlotte Strait, moving along the edge of the Broughton Archipelago at 7:30am. The A34s continued foraging over the next hour. Alex commented that sports fishers had been successfully catching Chinooks in this area. Chinooks are a favoured food for Northern Residents.The A34s would surprisingly continue into Fife Sound, a less-travelled pathway that has only recently become available to the Northern Residents once again after the removal of open net salmon farms.
Calls continued in the Strait as the A23s and A52s travelled towards the Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve, where they would eventually turn back west shortly after 8am. The A23s were later seen at 10:48am after having entered Beaver Cove much further west. The A52s had most likely headed west toward the entrance of Weynton Passage at the same time.
Meanwhile, with the A23s by now in Beaver Cove and the A52s approaching Weynton Passage in Johnstone Strait, the third A1 pod group, the A54s were again vocal in Blackfish Sound by 9:30am. At 10:48, they were seen travelling east along the Swanson Island shoreline towards Blackney Passage. By 11:15am, the A54s entered Blackney Passage and into our view. They continued south into Johnstone Strait.
Around 11:35, we were informed that the A50s, without the A72 and A99, were moving fast across Donegal Head coming back from Weynton and west toward Lizard Point. They were later reported at Lizard around 12:41pm.
At 12:33, Jared, having just arrived on scene, reported the A23s heading east in Johnstone Strait around Kaikash Creek. Shortly after, the Robson Bight Wardens reported seeing 7 individuals from the A54s, approaching the Western Boundary of the Reserve. They were soon spotted on one of our cameras in the Reserve as they moved towards Strider Rubbing Beach. At 1:28pm, the A54s began rubbing at Strider Rubbing Beach and continued for almost 3 hours! Some whales also moved to Main Rubbing Beach for a quick rub.
While the A54s continued rubbing, the A23s made their way into the western part of the Reserve, where they foraged and milled at the mouth of the Tsitika River. By 3pm, they were reported to be spread out in Johnstone Strait heading west towards Cracroft Point.
The A50s, in Queen Charlotte Strait had by now reached Lizard Point by 12:41pm, perhaps shifted to the Penfolds and then made their way back to Blackfish Sound. At 1:43pm Alex noticed orcas (probably the A50s) coming from the Penfold Islands headed to Bold Head, then an hour later four began surfing in the wake of an eastbound cruise ship. Nicollette then mentioned seeing a group (the A50s) passing Double Bay at 3pm, the same time, if you remember, as the A23s were making that turn towards Cracroft Point. Marieka had by 4:30pm identified the A34s in Fife Sound. Not to be forgotten, the A42s with A94 had been seen in the Salish Sea at 2:45pm off Sarah Point on Hernando Island as reported by Megan.. So many whales, so much movement! Our heads were spinning.
Just before 5:00pm, Jared Towers reported the A52s, A72s, and A99 eastbound off Big Bay on Hanson Island in Johnstone Strait. In one of the time gaps, the A52s had found the missing A72s and A99 (or had they been together all this time already? Alex had not seen the A72s and A99 when their A50 group had passed towards Stubbs Island earlier that morning before 7am). You can be forgiven if you find this all a little confusing. The upshot was that now the A52s, A72s and A99 had managed to turn back into Johnstone Strait. By 5:05pm, we were hearing their calls on the Parson Island hydrophone at the entrance to Blackney Passage. They turned into Blackney and came into view of the Lab by 5:16pm before continuing north into Blackfish Sound where they would have found the rest of the A50s waiting for them.
Around 5:50pm, the A23s had again made their way east to the Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve, and they began rubbing at Strider Rubbing Beach. The A23s left the rubbing beaches and headed west around 6:20pm.
By 7:30pm, the A34s had also returned from Fife Sound and were again heard near the top western end of Blackfish Sound.
The A23s came into view of the Lab in Blackney Passage going north around 9:00pm. Shortly afterwards, A5 calls (from the A23s) joined the A34 calls in Blackfish Sound. Shortly after Blackfish Sound became a chorus filled with A1, A4, and A5 calls. The A54s were faintly heard in Johnstone Strait from about 10:45pm until 11:30pm, perhaps indicating their movement to the west and passage out through Weynton to join the others. The calls in Blackfish sound continued into the new day. All the groups were perhaps finally in the same locale. It had taken all day and much divergent movement for them to come together once again.
Here is a map of the day’s movements along with a daily highlights reel:
