Several days have passed since our last summary. In the absence of Northern Resident activity Biggs orcas made their presence known on June 25. At 2:36am, the Biggs were vocal near the entrance to Blackney Pass. Intermittent calls continued until 6:45am. Later in the day, Kate at Bere Point saw a small group heading east in Queen Charlotte Strait. Elizabeth Zwamborn witnessed T064B hunting Dalls Porpoise in Blackfish Sound where Nicolette later heard more calls in Blackfish Sound before 9pm.
The Northern Residents, the A50s and A23s, who had recently made a short tour of the area between June 23 – 24 seemingly departed via Queen Charlotte Strait on June 24 after making a few dithering changes of direction.
But in the early hours of June 29 Resident orcas were heard once again just before 3am (2:53am) in Johnstone Strait. These calls were pretty much buried in boat noise as three cruise ships passed through the Strait, but Tomoko, listening in Japan, thought that it was A5s. The last of these calls, increasingly faint, were at 4am. There had been a hint earlier just after 7pm that there was pending movement but nothing developed and the particularly noisy evening persisted.
Close to the Lab at 4:39am, while everyone was listening and recording the orcas, a humpback lunge fed close to the Lab!
Later in the day, calls were heard again at 2:20pm followed quickly by a sighting of the A50s in Blackney Pass at 2:29PM headed south plowing through the heavy northwest waves. A72, A84, A99 and A50 were confirmed. They left Blackney quite smartly and were soon seen by Kelsey at Cracroft Point. They crossed the Strait and headed east. Between 4:40 – 5:09pm the A50s were off Robson Bight. At 5:29pm, the group showed on the Strider Beach remote camera as they approached the beach for a rub (the first of this season) at 5:30pm. How beautiful they looked in the clear churned up waters! From Strider they continued toward Main Beach. There was both echo location and N3 calls. One orca circled back for another rub at 7:49pm. By 5:57pm the whales were seen leaving the Main Beach area and initiating a cross towards the Cracoft island shore opposite.
They negotiated a wide turn back to the west and were seen by the Boat Bay camp passing 1.5 km offshore in a tight group at 6:46pm. They would continue west to the entrance of Blackney by 8:24pm and in a reverse of their earlier efforts made their way north. They were on the far side, moving quickly and tending to spread out from their earlier close group. A group of Pacific Whitesided dolphins moved in toward the group.
They exited to Blackfish Sound with some echo location clicks at 8:51pm. Alex, from her vantage point, could see the larger fins of A84 and A99 near Flower Island despite the exercised waves. The rest of the evening and night was uneventful.
We have since learned that as of Friday last, the A25s, A54s and I15s were accounted for near Ketchikan, Alaska and that Fin Island, on the north coast of British Columbia, recorded A5 calls today. It seems the A5s are everywhere! The pod consists of three matrilines, A23s, A25s and A42s, who have a tendency to travel independently of each other. Hopefully, in the coming days their separate whereabouts will be better understood. Oh for a quiet ocean! There is a pretty good network of observers extending from the Salish Sea to Alaska so there is a good chance more information will be forthcoming.
That said it really is beginning to feel like the Northern Residents are bent on starting the 2026 summer/fall season! What can we expect next?
