Just before the start of a new day, A1 calls were heard on Flower Island at 11:41pm on July 26th. As the calls continued over the next hour, the orcas seemed to grow more and more excited. By 1:15am, calls from the A30s, A34s, and A23s were all recognized on Flower Island. This meant that the A23s of A5 pod had come to join the A1 pod matrilines. Blows were heard in front of the Lab at 1:40pm, but calls were still being heard on the Flower Island hydrophone situated in Blackfish Sound to the west of the Lab. We are still trying to understand this hydrophone’s range and suspect that because of its position that it is listening to Blackney Pass as well. Regardless we did have the impression that the orcas were fairly spread out. A4 calls joined the others on Flower Island around 1:43am, which were most likely the A52s who had also been around the previous two days. By 1:51am, the A30s were spread between Blackfish Sound, Blackney Pass and the Johnstone Strait entrance of Blackney Pass. Concurrently, the A23s extended between both Flower Island and Local Center, while the A34s and A4s remained only in the range of Flower Island and were still somewhere in Blackfish Sound. Over the next hour, individuals from all three of the A pods thoroughly mixed up and dispersed between Blackfish Sound, Blackney Passage, and Johnstone Strait. It seemed like they had all come together for a big orca party!
By 4:00am, part of the A30s, A23s and A4s were in Johnstone Strait, while another group of A30s and A5s were still somewhere behind them. The A34s were likely somewhere in between the others, but they could not be distinguished separately amongst the great symphony of vocalizations so locating them specifically was difficult.
We do understand that this great group of whales got into Johnstone Strait but possibly no further than opposite Robson Bight. And then this is where we get creative. With hindsight, and a review of the recording underway, we believe that the A42s plus A94 had come west from the Salish Sea. Their journey back might have started on July 25 when they were last seen heading north at 5pm north of the Cortez Reef opposite West Redonda Island. Our speculation is that the excited whales already present in the area rushed to connect with the A42s (and A94) mid Johnstone Strait. This is what happened next.
Calls came through on the Parson Island hydrophone at 5:01am, which suggested that the orcas would travel back in front of the Lab. At 5:37am this proved to be true, as fins were just able to be viewed in the dim light of the rising sun. There were so many Northern Residents cruising through Blackney Passage that it was hard to get an accurate count, but it was easily over thirty+ individuals. At 6:19am, all of the orcas had cleared to the north.
A1, A4, and A5 calls were all heard on the Flower Island hydrophone, as the orcas headed north through Blackfish Sound. In the midst of this, a humpback was bubble net feeding on Flower Island. Alex mentioned at 7:50am that groups came through Blackfish Sound in discreet resting lines that then fanned out. Some cleared her view to the west along the north shore, while others headed out into Queen Charlotte Strait.
To the Lab’s surprise, a few chuffs (what we call the sound of moving pebbles when the orcas rub) were heard in accompaniment with some A1 calls on the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach hydrophone at 9:22am. We are still unsure where these individuals came from or where they went after their brief rub; it was just that brief an event.
Kate Brauer kept us updated on the movements of fifteen to twenty of these Northern Residents that were slowly westing towards Malcolm Point at 11:15am. She reported again at 1:40pm that the orcas were still meandering west, and they seemed to be in no rush. Maybe they were tired after such energetic calls in the early hours of the morning! Meanwhile, in front of the Lab, humpbacks Guardian and Quartz repeated pectoral fin slapping and breaching, respectively. At 2:42pm, Kate mentioned that the A54s were slowly traveling up the north shore of Malcolm Island around Trinity Bay.
The rest of the afternoon and early evening were very quiet with no more accounts about the movements of any of the Northern Residents. At 9:09pm, the Flower Island hydrophone in Blackfish Sound picked up A1 calls. Was this the straggling group we had heard in the morning? Were they reconnecting with the whales that had been outbound? Kate had shared that while the orcas traveled out of sight around 3:30pm, they had reappeared at 9:32pm around Malcolm Point easting with the A23s in the lead. Lots of A1 calls and echolocation then continued on Flower Island into the early hours of the next day. Thus, the 27th both started and ended with A1 calls coming from Flower Island to the listening ears of the Lab.
