After midnight the calls of the A25s, A23s, A54s and I15s carried these whales east to Strider beach by 1:42am. It was the A54s and I15s who went in first but for only five minutes. When they left the A5s came in but only for a perfunctory, less than a minute effort. For the next hour there were only faint calls and from 3:03am until 4:51am more faint calls were heard on both Main and Strider stations. The change was noted. The whales had altered their course back to the west. This was even further suggested by the louder calls and echolocation that occurred on the Strider system, compounded by the faint calls on the Critical and Kaizumi stations.
Really bad boat noise overwhelmed the vocals. When it let up twelve minutes later the calls from Strider and Critical Point had become stronger. There were also fainter calls of other whales perhaps closer to the Cracroft Island side. It was now past 6am and the orcas were making progress. The mid level calls on Critical Point at 6:19am became the mid level calls on Kaizumi at 6:27am.
The orcas were not alone in the Strait. Dolphins had been vocal on the Parson Island system back at 2:52am before the orcas went to the east and now, around 6:19, a humpback made some amazing sounds more descriptive than the usual feeding sounds. Tomoko, listening in Japan, figured this humpback was “getting ready” for the much more complicated and sustained vocal exercises yet to come later in the autumn. This humpback was on the Parson Island system as would be the Northern Residents at 6:44am.
The Lab had just changed shifts when the I15s, A54s, A23s and A25s came into Blackney Pass and went north at 7:07am. They were in two groups that smartly left for Blackfish Sound at 7:24am. From there the orcas went into Queen Charlotte Strait where they spent the next four hours.
The I15s shifted toward Donegal Head at 11:17am and were heard on the Lab speakers at 11:41am. It was brief, the calls dropped away by 11:50am. These whales had opted for Weynton Pass. Over an hour went by before we heard them in the Strait.
Dolphins rushed by the Lab at 1:24pm. Twenty minutes after that the A30s and A5s came into acoustic focus. They were still in Blackfish Sound. They took turns calling right up to 3:39pm. Sometimes the calls seemed closer, at other times farther away, then the calls stopped.
Nearly an hour went by and at 4:33pm, the I15s at last let it be known that they were still working their way east. Finally, at 6:32pm their echolocation was a primer for the rub that followed at 6:54pm. But like the A5 rub in the morning this only lasted for as long as it took the whale involved to disturb the pebbles while going west.
Alex noticed that the playful and milling whales in Blackfish Sound were spread out in small groups from Donegal Head to Bold Head. We were hearing faint A30 calls.
Past 9pm now, and the I15s had made it as far as the entrance to Blackney Pass at 9:21pm. Not long after the A30s dropped “down” closer to Blackney Pass. They travelled through and into Johnstone Strait before 11pm. The I15s were still there! The “night” was still young and the ever moving whales had yet more distances to travel and places to go.
