Today, calls started as early as 3:39am on our Critical Point hydrophone, located in the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve. They were identified as I15s by Tomoko who was listening from Japan. Jianna, listening carefully from the lab, noted a lot of N25 calls, over and over, as well as a humpback vocalizing in Blackfish Sound. This was her first time hearing what almost turned into a humpback song! At 5:26am the I15 calls had moved to our Parson Island hydrophone covering the entrance of Blackney Pass. The whales weren’t very vocal but the movement to the entrance of Blackney Pass suggested a westerly trend.
At 6:51am, the A62s were vocal in Johnstone Strait. Whale watchers were already on the water by 7:30am and reported whales in the Strait headed for Weynton Passage. Nearly two hours later at 9:24am, we started hearing the A62s in Blackfish Sound.
Faint I15 calls started half an hour later in Blackfish Sound as well, coinciding with a report from Alex at 9:56am of orcas entering Blackfish Sound from Queen Charlotte Strait. We wondered if these whales were the I15s we heard in Johnstone Strait this morning between 3am and 5am. Now, with the arrival of the A62s from Johnstone Strait and the arrivals from the west, orcas converged off the western end of Blackfish Sound. I15 calls got louder while the A62s remained distant but still present in Blackfish Sound.
Meanwhile, after yesterday’s concern for an entangled sea lion noticed on the Hanson Island sea lion haulout, we were moved by the sight of a mother nursing her tiny pup. This will become a common sight as more females arrive with their young babies after travelling from the summer rookeries further north. As for the entangled sea lion observed yesterday, we spotted him again on the rocks today and saw a tag on his flipper. After reporting it to Jackie, we were now certain that this was the sea lion rescued on September 17th! The scars remain from his ordeal but his situation has improved considerably.
Reports about the orcas in Blackfish Sound continued from 10:30am onwards. Alex’s report of whales spread out across the eastern side of Blackfish Sound preceded the one at 10:47am of a group of 5 whales traveling east off Double Bay. We believe this group was the A62s as we last heard them at 10:19am in Blackfish Sound while they likely moved away from our Flower Island hydrophone range, favoring the Hanson Island northern shore. We were still hearing I15s calls, more or less closer to the hydrophone, with some echolocation sounds at 11:08am. They were last heard in Blackfish Sound at 11:33am.
At 12:52, Michael Reppy reported whales going east in Weynton. Twenty minutes later, AJ reported that 2 or 3 groups had taken Weynton Pass and were now in Johnstone Strait crossing the Strait to the Vancouver Island side with another group at the southern end of Weynton Pass ready to enter the Strait.
During that time, a military vessel in Parson Bay hung around for about 3 hours. What was notable about this appearance was what Nora described as some type of “sonar” picked up on our local center hydrophone at 2:19pm. Just after this the vessel sped off very quickly heading south.
By 2pm, the orcas who had entered the Strait were now mid strait according to AJ and opposite Blinkhorn while continuing east. No calls were heard but at 2:34pm we were seeing whales on our Cracroft Point remote camera, about six or seven of them, including at least two males, all tight together resting at the surface at the entrance of Blackney Pass. The military boat was leaving the Pass at the same time, pointed at the whales, and slightly diverted its course at the last moment. We heard “sonar” sounds again as the vessel headed west in Johnstone Strait at 2:48pm. A few minutes later, the resting whales were seen slowly moving west too. They didn’t make a sound.
Scanning the area for the rest of the orcas from our Cracroft Point camera, potentially four blows were noted on the far side near Kaikash Creek at 2:51pm. They were pretty quiet up until 3:13pm when echolocation and the first “chuff” was heard on Kaizumi Rubbing Beach. The rub lasted for 5 minutes with what looked like at least five whales present, including two males, seen from our remote fixed camera at Kaizumi. Great to see that there were no humans on the beach and the whales had the place to themselves. They were barely vocal but emitted a few short calls followed by a few N3 calls by members of the A62s. From our Cracroft Point camera, we could now see their blows easting along the Vancouver Island shore past Kaizumi at 3:26pm.
At 3:52pm a group of five orcas were reported heading east off Cracroft Point mid strait.
From the distribution of the whales in the Strait we tried to account for 3 different groups without the benefit of many calls or visual identification of individuals. Tricky but the situation slowly improved.
Shortly after the rub ended at Kaizumi, we began to hear I15 calls and echolocation in the Robson Bight at 3:40pm. Twenty minutes later, whales were seen approaching from the west via our remote camera at Strider Rubbing Beach.
At 4:04pm the rub began and at last we finally got some positive IDs! Julia spotted I122 and Tomoko recognized I65’s distinct markings from the Strider underwater camera livestream. By 4:10pm the rub ended after many excited “trills”, “squawks”, and echolocation. We noted four orcas heading east towards Main Rubbing Beach. The ticking of their echolocation and calls became faint as they headed further east. This was becoming a trend for the I65s.
Then we started to hear calls once more on the Strider Rubbing Beach hydrophone at 4:40pm and at 5:27pm the I4s went in for a 30 minute rub. The youngest member, I172 was identified underwater by his distinctive dorsal nick. I4 was also identified underwater and I76 from our surface camera. It was wonderful to watch the underwater stream as the whales rubbed their perfect bodies over and over in the clear blue waters. They didn’t go very far east after that rub and came back to have another 5 minute rub at 6:31pm. Their calls faded soon after only to be heard again in the Strait briefly between 8:51pm and 8:56pm accompanied by dolphin chatter. Going west?
Before then, looking for the other groups, we scanned the Strait once more. Five orcas, including two males and a baby, could be seen across from Cracroft Point around 5pm heading west. The A62s were then identified acoustically at 5:53pm on the Cracroft Point hydrophone. They remained vocal in Johnstone Strait untill 8:36pm.
We now knew a little bit better who we were listening to and watching through the day. So far we could account for the I65s, I4s and A62s.
The rest of the day consisted of securing all outdoor spaces and our boat Sonic for the coming storm. These first strong southeaster winds of the season will certainly not be the last!
