The early morning hours of September 3rd, starting at 1:30 am, were filled with the vocalizations and social calls of a humpback whale in Blackfish Sound, flooding the Lab with clear, powerful sounds.. Adding to this concert, the A25s and A23s began calling at Kaizumi Rubbing Beach at 2:47 am, making us wonder if they had quietly passed through Blackfish Sound and Weynton Passage into Johnstone Strait. Alternating between these two locations, and with no boat noise to interfere, the Lab was filled by beautiful calls echoing back and forth.
While the humpback fell silent about an hour later, the A23s and A25s continued their eastbound movement, their calls becoming louder on the remote Strider Rubbing Beach system by 5:00 am. Reaching the rubbing beaches in the Ecological Reserve shortly after, they remained vocal until 5:49 am, before becoming quiet for almost an hour. Around 7:00 am, their calls were again on the Strider Rubbing Beach system for a few minutes, then nothing more again until 1:38 pm afterwards.
Meanwhile, Bigg’s orcas became vocal at 11:34am in the entranceway to Blackney Pass They were later confirmed to be the T109Bs. Because of the heavy fog covering Blackney Pass for most of the day, we couldn’t see them visually, but thanks to a report from the research vessel the Achiever, we learned that the family had killed a sea lion. Eventually, with the completion of the successful hunt they slowly made their way into Johnstone Strait and headed east. Out of the fog they were now visible on our remote camera located at Cracroft Point. They were very active porpoising, spyhopping and breaching while sharing their catch with each other. Their calls lasted until 1:27pm.
Only ten minutes later, the calls of the A23s and A25s were once again picked up east of the Ecological Reserve. Shortly after Oliver located them still east of Main Rubbing Beach. near the Vancouver Island shoreline heading west. Later, while angling offshore they were observed surrounded by dolphins. Finally, at 2:37 pm, a few broke away and made an effort to rub on Strider Rubbing Beach. During the 12 minutes of rubbing, they created beautiful footage both above and below the water. They were half way between the boundary of the Reserve and Kaikash Creek by 4:30pm. By then, the A34s had made it back through Queen Charlotte Strait and into Blackfish Sound where they were seen foraging at Bold Head at 5:17 pm by Scotty.
While the A23s and A25s remained quiet for some time, their calls were picked up again at Critical Point at 6:25 pm. Just half an hour later, they reached Main Rubbing Beach before moving out of range to the east around 7:00 pm. At 9:30 pm, distant calls of the A34s were detected in the western Johnstone Strait, after they had passed through Weynton Passage. After only 15 minutes of calling, they fell silent for the rest of the day.
On a different note, the fog finally broke late afternoon allowing Momoko to begin her journey to return home to Japan. It has been a pleasure to have her here, and even after her fourteenth summer the goodbye was not free of tears. Paul and Helena also headed out for a couple of days, leaving only a small group of people at the Lab. While we had grown used to up to 20 people being around, the number dropped down to six, making the island feel unusually quiet.
