It is mid November and not a day goes by without Northern Residents!
On November 16th, members of the A5 pod were in Johnstone Strait at 10:31am. We followed them acoustically as they travelled east, until their calls faded out of our range at 12:02pm. They were back briefly in the same locale between 6:42pm and 7:11pm. We wondered if they were the A23s, seen the day before on our remote Critical Point camera or the A25s who were last reported in Discovery Passage less than 10 days ago.
Later that day, an incredible humpback practised a song on our Parson Island hydrophone. Twenty minutes of beautiful and clear calls. The rest of the night was filled with more or less distant humpback vocals as well as a few Bigg’s calls just before 2am.
At 6:35am on November 17th, both Cam and Claire woke up to Northern Resident calls and ran to the Lab to locate them. The A34s were in Johnstone Strait as well as members of the A5 pod! They shared the space for a while and were most likely spread out as their calls were simultaneously close and distant echoing between the Kaizumi and the Critical Point hydrophones. It was a lovely morning filled with a diversity of calls and even a humpback who joined in on the Kaizumi hydrophone for about 15 minutes! The A5s then became silent after 10:38am, while the A34s continued to vocalize. By this time, they were close to the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach but did not come for a rub. We heard a few crunches and hoped they were finding enough fish to feed the whole family. They continued west and were reported at Blinkhorn by Jackie at 12:53pm with Pacific White-Sided Dolphins. They travelled through Weynton Passage and arrived in Blackfish Sound at 1:53pm. Some poked their noses into Blackney Pass at 3:27pm, including Echo, Simoom, Rainy and her baby as well as Eclipse. They turned back into Blackfish Sound at 4pm and were last heard just after 5pm headed back the way they came in a couple of days ago. Moments later, humpbacks took over the acoustic space!
On November 18th, we heard echolocation in Johnstone Strait between 8:57am and 9:43am. These whales briefly emitted N3 calls but we didn’t get any further clues as to who they were. We are standing by to see what the next days will bring!
