September 22nd was one of those days that seemed to pass quietly – perhaps giving the impression of being uneventful, but in truth offering a pause, and a little rest for everyone. The whales gave us a pass: with no sign of the Residents, the hydrophone network remained silent. At 5:15pm a group of Bigg’s, most likely the T060s, passed the Lab northbound, far side and moving with little energy. By 5:26pm they had cleared, making it a short encounter.
Slipping into Fall like this is a reminder of how different time feels out here. It isn’t the clock or the phone that marks the hours, but the whales, the daylight, the sun, the temperature, the tides, and the weather. The days are shortening, sea lions are hauling out in greater numbers, their calls filling the air, the seas are turning choppier, and the nights are getting colder. To feel the change of seasons so directly has its own beauty – one that often gets lost in the busy, hectic, and noisy, yet comfortable life of the city.
The morning of September 23rd was filled with reports of Biggs Orcas in the area, who seemingly are more around lately. A contributor to PWWA noticed, at 9:45am, the lone male Bigg’s orca, Rainy (or T011A) between the Pearse Islands and Alert Bay in Pearse Passage. Rainy’s daytrip took him into Johnstone Strait and around the Pearce Islands and then around Cormorant Island (Alert Bay) and eventually back close to where his day began just before 1pm. Rainy often travels by himself especially since the death of his mother some years ago.
After a two day absence, the first distant calls of the A34s were detected in Blackfish Sound by 4:34pm. Coming slowly from the west, out of Queen Charlotte Strait, their calls soon grew louder and more frequent. They remained in range for about four hours, with particularly clear and vibrant calls around 7pm after which a couple of tugboats passing through began to drown out their calls.
By 8:45pm, the calls in Blackfish Sound paused, only to be picked up again in Johnstone Strait around 11pm. They had made the journey to Johnstone Strait on the last of the ebb tide. Once in Johnstone Strait they had an easier passage from then on as they travelled east in the Strait with the current after midnight. Less frequently vocal now, they made steady eastbound movement. Shortly afterwards, the whales went quiet again, possibly leaving the network’s range to the east.
The absence of whales left the island feeling incomplete, making their return all the more uplifting.
