Yesterday ended with a short rub at 8:22pm in the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve with the I15s and A62s in Johnstone Strait. They were silent for a while until we heard I15 calls in Blackfish Sound at 12:18am. Had they come via Blackney Pass or via Weynton Passage? “Raspberry” and “chirp” humpback vocals were heard in Blackfish Sound too, as well as Pacific White-sided Dolphin chatter. As today was the Fall equinox, we could expect nothing less than a Humpback practicing his songs in preparation for finding a mate. Songs and grunts could be heard in both the Strait and entrance to Blackney Pass in the early morning and as the sky began to lighten, the songs stopped and breaches began.
As the sun rose masked by thick clouds of rain, we began to hear I15 calls once again in Blackfish Sound, however they quickly became distant once more. A few faint A1 calls (most likely, the A62s) were heard in the Strait at 7:53am, but nothing became of it until 9:04am when suddenly fins were seen heading North through Blackney Pass. It was all hands on deck as no one had expected this passing. The first fin to pop up was I122. As he continued North with another smaller fin, I4 & I76 showed up along with a stream of Pacific White-sided dolphins behind them. Almost ten minutes after we thought they had cleared, all the I4s were back in Blackney Pass resting. We continued to scan Blackney Pass in its entirety in case we missed someone. Sure enough another male was spotted with more dolphins entering the Pass. Just a short moment later, more fins joined him. The rain made it hard to see, and since we had no calls on our Local Centre hydrophone, it was our best guess as to who was passing. Since we had I122 earlier, it would make sense that the rest of the I65s would come through as well. However, we had more than 5 fins in this last group. These were the A62s. By 9:53 all groups had cleared and all calls stopped by 11:00am.
Not much happened during the next 5 hours except for a report of the T060s going east in Knight Inlet at 2:05pm.
Michael and Nicolette from Double Bay came for a lovely catch up visit.
We counted more than 60 sea lions hauled out on the rocks just South of the Lab and very much enjoyed watching them sleep and growl with our remote camera.
At 4:03pm, we started hearing Northern Resident calls again on our system. The I15s were at the entrance of Blackney Pass. It took them 7 hours to complete a full loop around Hanson Island! They came into our view at 4:18pm. The I4s were in the lead mid channel, followed by the I65s who were favoring the Parson Island side. A lot of Pacific White-sided dolphins were vocal on the Parson Island hydrophone and traveled North at full speed in Blackney Pass, some were with the orcas, others favoring the Hanson Island side. A third group of orcas came into our view at 4:53pm. It was again the A62s trailing the others. Silently, they traveled on the far side and were in no hurry. Our Local Centre hydrophone had technical issues during their passing and we couldn’t tell if they were calling or not. As they approached the range of our Flower Island hydrophone at 5:55pm, we heard their brief but clear A1 calls. They cleared our view at 6:06pm after spending more than an hour in Blackney Pass. Their sporadic calls continued for a little while in Blackfish Sound along with continuous dolphin chatter.
At 7:59pm, Bigg’s calls were heard in front of the lab and left us wondering if these were the T060s reported earlier today. They moved on to Blackfish Sound where we last heard them at 8:32pm. A few minutes later, a humpback took over and vocalized sporadically for about 40 minutes.
Another sign of Autumn, the tall cedar trees are letting go their now brown and gold “leaves”. Blown off by the first slight southeaster – a hint as to what will come.
