October 9th: OrcaLab at work. Day one of hydrophone retrieval. A BIG thanks to Gonzolo from Double Bay and everyone else who helped manage this tricky job.
October 10th: OrcaLab at work again. Day two, more hydrophone work. Thanks again to Gonzolo from Double Bay for helping with the dive and to Megan for organizing everything. Thanks to Jianna, Barbara, Lydia and Rich for their assistance.
The day hummed along much as we expected. Gonzolo came from Double Bay in time for the slack and he and Megan got ready and geared up set to retrieve the rest of Prof. Hervé Glotin’s “Stethorca” array which had been sitting out front of the Lab since July. As the season is winding down and the weather becoming less predictable it was deemed time to bring “her” in. The work went as planned and soon Megan and Gozolo were sitting in the sauna warming up, cables coiled on the deck and the mounted hydrophones ready for the next phase.
A skiff had come along near the Parson Island Light at the same time as the dive then proceeded south close to the Parson Island shore scarring the hauled out sea lions. They went a bit further then pulled out their fishing rods. Not sure if it had been necessary to disturb the sea lions.
At 3:46pm, a group of Bigg’s orcas were spotted on the far side in water dark from the shadow of the hills above. The orcas were just visible and not difficult to track thanks to their slow steady movement north. Just after they approached White Beach Pass a few clear A34 calls were heard momentarily confusing the situation. We had not heard the A34s since October 8 when they were off somewhere to the west of Blackfish Sound.
The Resident calls did not seem to deter the Bigg’s orcas who kept their steady pace right up to the time they disappeared into Blackfish Sound at 4:13pm. The Bigg’s orcas were silent and later found off Foster Island by Jared Towers who identified T011A, T30Bs, and T049C. Jared, when he stopped for gas in Port McNeill before heading out to find the Biggs saw T069E right at the fuel dock. Jared never saw the A34s who remained vocal first, from 4:16pm until 4:54pm and then again at 5:02pm until 6:01pm. They had been both distant and clearer during those times.
Less than an hour later their calls were on the Cracroft Point system leading to the assumption that they had come through Blackney Pass some time before 6:58pm in the dark. Most likely they went east soon after.
A humpback on Flower Island, dolphins in Johnstone Strait, contributed to the soundscape between 8:30 and 9pm just when the A34s took a short break. Thereafter, just before 10pm the A34s picked it up again. But they had not ventured too far away before calls were heard off the entrance to Blackney Pass as late as 11:41pm. The A34s seemingly now travelled back to the west.
It has been remarked upon that the humpbacks have been less vocal than in years past. There have yet to be any really sustained efforts. Hard to know why.
