The morning of September 4th began with distant calls of the A34s, first picked up on the remote Strider Rubbing Beach system at 3:39am. They seemed to have continued their quiet eastbound travel from the previous evening. By 4:17am, the soundscape shifted:
While calls had stayed distant for a while, the familiar sounds of chuffs on Strider Rubbing Beach were picked by 4:17am, indicating the beginning of a short four-minute rub. During this time, A5 calls were heard, leaving us to wonder if the A23s and A25s had stayed within range all this time. That brief acoustic glimpse was all we heard from them for the remainder of the day, leading us to suspect they had continued east again – a mystery that remained unresolved for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, a humpback in Blackfish Sound began vocalizing at 5:37am. Its social calls and mournful moans filled the Lab, soon joined by the unmistakable sounds of bubble-net feeding, which carried on intermittently until 6:37am.
At 8:41am, the A34s became vocal once more as they reached Strider Rubbing Beach. The A67s treated us to a beautiful rub between 8:52 and 9:18am, captured on video, while the rest of the A34s lingered offshore. Shortly after, the group made their way back west, passing through the acoustic window between Kaizumi Rubbing Beach and Cracroft Point by 11:15am
Just after noon, the remote camera on Cracraft Point confirmed their presence. Spread widely from the Vancouver Island shore to mid-Strait, the whales were busy fishing and hunting, their echolocation clicks painting the scene acoustically. By 1:30pm they had reached Blinkhorn, still widely dispersed, before leaving to the west.
The afternoon unfolded more quietly, the A34s slipping in and out of range and offering only occasional calls. At 3:30pm, they were heard briefly on the western end of Johnstone Strait, then fell silent again. A report from PWWA at 4:42pm placed them in Beaver Cove, then heading east once again. Scotty later confirmed the sighting as the A34s, without the A62s.
Between 5:09 and 6:41pm their calls were faint and infrequent, as the whales remained off Blinkhorn.
The day closed with the deep, resonant sounds of a humpback bubble-net feeding in Blackfish Sound at 7:38pm just as we were settling into dinner. The evening stayed quiet, and the grey day slipped into the night. Autumn feels closer now , the day’s shorter and the onset of evening earlier.
