It was a quiet night for the most part. No calls or signs from the Residents on where they were, not even any Humpback songs to keep us entertained. That was until 3:30am when the chirping of a humpback in Blackfish made the speakers come alive. The sounds quickly moved on from chirping to blowing some raspberries, shrieks, whistles, and upsweeps. These are all social calls that one may use to communicate with others nearby and often mistaken for other sounds. By 3:50am, the humpback had made his way into Blackney Pass and then along further to Parson Island. At 4:20 the humpback decided to start singing, very close to our hydrophone which caused a bit of static, but his vocals were lovely nonetheless.
It was again quiet until the sun started to rise at 7am. Troy at Bere Point reported a group he took to be the I16s passed by to the east after a rub at 7:36am.
At 7:06am, we started hearing faint I15 and A1 (?A62s) calls in Johnstone Strait until 9am when they became louder on our Kaizumi hydrophone. At that point we spotted orcas using our Cracroft Point remote camera heading east near Kaikash. About 45 minutes later, another group of 4 were spotted on the remote CP camera heading east in the middle of the Strait. As these groups moved east, their calls were heard on our Strider hydrophone an hour later and soon enough were spotted on the Strider camera. Their calls became loud and frequent and excited as they approached Strider rubbing beach. They were so excited, one individual breached. By 11:36am the first rub of the day followed. These I15s enthusiastically blew bubbles and rubbed along their favourite beach. They seemed to favour the area surrounding our underwater camera today so we were able to see some lovely orcas underwater, including a hapless seastar who, dislodged off the bottom by the orcas, was tossed and floated away. We are pretty confident that I76 was here, preceded by I4 and 2 other small fins. We were left wondering if these 2 small fins were members of the I65s. By 12pm, they decided they had a long enough rub, pulled away and were seen heading east.
With the I4s and most likely the I65s heading down the Strait, we were left to identify the other calls we were hearing in Blackfish Sound. We had reports of orcas headed south in Blackfish Sound while others were in Weynton as well. Alex reported 2 males, 2 females and a juvenile heading for Weynton. We now wondered if it was the I16s and I27s in Blackfish Sound who were pointing towards Blackney Pass at 1:37pm?
Olivia, who had spent 2 months at OrcaLab, was camping at Naka Creek and reported a group of 4 including one male traveling east at 1:20pm. Fifteen minutes later, she saw one male mid channel going east, followed 20 minutes later by 2 small fins and a baby. This was the perfect count for the I4s and I65s.
At this point we were hearing a lot of echolocation on our Flower Island hydrophone with some more distant I15 and over time they seemed to be coming closer to the northern entrance of Blackney Pass. At 1:36pm, 2 males were in sight. They looked like either the I27s brothers or 2 males from the I16s matriline. Two smaller orcas were spotted ahead of them, possibly members of the I16s, but they didn’t make it further than White Beach Pass and after a bit of foraging, they all turned back towards Blackfish Sound, clearing our view at 2:10pm. Fifteen minutes later, a report of 7 Northern Residents in Blackfish Sound would account for all of the I16s. Meanwhile, Scotty just before 2pm, saw the A62s westing off Telegraph Cove.
At 3:21pm, Scotty then reported the I16s spread out in Blackfish Sound heading towards Blackney Pass. We were still hearing their infrequent calls in Blackfish Sound. As we were waiting for them to show up, the humpback Claw and her calf Auger popped up quite close to Burnt Point! The little one made an amazing series of breaches all the way to the southern part of Blackney Pass. Laura captured great shots of this moment. In the background, the presumed I16s, slowly making their way South into Blackney Pass, decided to turn North again while making some interesting calls, and cleared our view at 4:26pm. With the whales sticking to the far side, preventing us from identifying them visually with confidence, our attention in the lab turned to a lovely sight on our Sea Lion Rock camera – a sparrow was foraging a few meters away from the sleepy sea lions.
The I15 calls continued in Blackfish Sound and at 5:12pm, we started to hear faint A1 calls too. The A62s must have traveled North via Weynton Pass. At 5:50pm, Alex reported 1 male zigzagging at Flower Island. Shortly after, our systems were down because of a power issue. Everything was quickly fixed and we were listening again to distant I15 and A1 calls in Blackfish Sound, including distinctive calls likely made by the A62s. Their calls faded slowly and were last heard at 7:43pm.
Olivia, still at Naka Creek, reported 4 orcas westing including one male, 2 small and a young one at 7:10pm. About 40 minutes later, we started hearing I15 calls and echolocation in Johnstone Strait east of the Reserve. Their sporadic calls lasted for about 45 minutes. Olivia was hoping to see the second group she had seen easting earlier but the light was fading and hopes of spotting whales faded too. At 9:45pm though we started hearing distant I15 calls again on the Strider hydrophone. Without warning, a loud “chuff” occurred at 9:57pm. We didn’t hear a single close call during this short rub but faint I15 calls continued in the Strait until the late hours.
