Interestingly, October 25 started exactly the same way as the day before, with the A62s vocalizing in the southern entrance of Blackney Pass at 6:24am. Unfortunately, there was a lot of boat noise and it wasn’t a pleasant recording to monitor. Humpbacks were also vocal in the same area, still awake after a busy night filled with incredible singing in what sounded like a much ‘quieter’ ocean without the boat noise. The rest of the day would remain quite noisy on the hydrophones as the easterly winds picked up stronger and stronger, shaping the underwater sound of waves.
By 7:22am, while the A62s were making their way east in Johnstone Strait, a report from Troy came in of 5 to 6 orcas with one big male rubbing at Bere Point! They headed east when they left the beach. This meant that a new group was arriving!
Just before 9am, the A62s were in the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve. They foraged in the Tsitika Estuary for two hours or so. At 10:53am, their calls sounded excited and we were wondering if the new group was nearby. We were expecting this new group to acoustically ‘show up’ anytime now! Unbearable suspense!
Drum roll! At 11:41am, Claire heard faint A5 calls in Johnstone Strait! Listening from afar, Dylan identified them as the A23s, which would match Troy’s report of 6 orcas. They likely came in via Weynton Passage and were travelling east in the Strait. The A62s had left the Bight and were now on their way west again as their calls approached the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach at 11:54am. A few excited and frequent calls followed suggesting that both groups had met acoustically, then both the A1 (A62s) and the A5 (A23) calls faded at 12:44pm off the southern entrance of Blackney Pass. No further calls were heard after that except for a few “quacks” at 1:55pm accompanied by whistles, echolocation and brief sounds of rubbing at Kaizumi Rubbing Beach.
One hour later, there was echolocation on the Parson Island hydrophone. We took a quick look at the remote Cracroft Point camera and immediately spotted orcas headed for Blackney Pass! They were traveling north with the fast ebb currents. After weeks without seeing Northern Resident orcas in Blackney Pass, we were beyond excited and looking forward to visually confirming the identity of the new group!
At 3:05pm, a first male was spotted in Blackney Pass, soon joined by others. The distinctive dorsal fin of A83, of the A62s, was soon identified. Five minutes later, as he was passing Parson Light, A60, of the A23s, surfaced next to him! The last time the A23 matriline was in the area was September 13th! It was heartwarming to watch them together with the A62s from the cold and windy deck! They did a few tail slaps and interacted with a humpback before clearing our view silently into Blackfish Sound at 3:24pm, only emitting a few whistles and echolocation as they continued north. The rest of the day and night was open for humpback songs and left us wondering if the A23s had snatched the A62s.
