The early hours of the morning picked up where the previous day left off with steady A5 calls on the remote systems at both Strider and Main Rubbing Beach, before the whales fell silent for a time. In the quiet that followed, the orcas likely moved westward through Johnstone Strait and “out” via either Blackney or Weynton. Meanwhile, a humpback whale was bubble-net feeding in Blackfish Sound around 5 am, adding his own vocal notes to the morning.
The long periods of silence from the A5s made it difficult to understand their movements. For certain, at 6:06am, the hydrophone on Flower Island picked up brief echolocation, with a single call at 6:58am in Blackfish Sound. Between 8 and 8:41am, infrequent and distant echolocation was heard again in the same area, though without calls to clearly confirm who was there though we suspected the A23s.
By 1pm, the Flower Island hydrophone in Blackfish Sound again detected twenty minutes of echolocation, matching a PWWA report of the A23s moving south-east in Blackfish Sound.
Piecing together subsequent reports suggested the A23s came south through Blackney Pass in the sometimes thick fog, entered Johnstone Strait where they were reported again at 3:03pm off the Vancouver Island shore opposite the entrance to Blackney Pass heading west.
Around 3:30pm, there were very distant A5 calls. At 4pm, their calls were still faint and widely spaced, correlating with another PWWA report of the A23s westing off Blinkhorn – A60 in the lead, the rest trailing behind.
A turn to the east occurred at some point. After a quiet stretch, the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach system picked up splashes and echolocation at 6:46pm, followed by clear calls half an hour later. A beautiful soundscape then unfolded in the Strait, with the calls of the A23s echoing across the hydrophone network for about twenty minutes before fading once again.
The orcas were still eastbound.
Around 8pm, the Critical Point hydrophone picked up echolocation along with a few calls, making us wonder if the whales had been resting or perhaps finding a bite to eat in Robson Bight. About an hour later, they moved eastward toward Strider Rubbing Beach.
By 9:26 pm, they were again using mostly echolocation, with a few faint whistles. At 9:30pm, they began a quiet 15-minute rub at Strider Rubbing Beach, notably without calls, before moving east and leaving the network by 9:51pm.
The unusual number of rubs without accompanying calls recently remains intriguing as does their near silent travels around the area.
Words by Freddy
