The 8th started out with a lovely surprise around 3:34am with close A34 calls and chuffs. A delightful quick rub at Strider Rubbing Beach. It lasted only a few minutes, but the 34s continued to make themselves heard afterwards, alongside a few early-morning humpback vocals on Flower Island.
By morning, 10-12 Northern Residents were reported around Blinkhorn before spreading into Blackfish Sound – almost certainly our group of A34s. The A62s were still with the wider family, although everyone soon split into different groups with the A62s and A67s heading west while A34s trailed behind. They spend much of the morning scattered between Blackfish Sound and Queen Charlotte Strait, with plenty of calls and echolocation on Flower Island, keeping us updated on their whereabouts.
By early afternoon, everyone had disappeared west, only to pull a switcheroo and come straight back! The A34s (-62s) returned towards Bold Head and, around 2:30pm, began travelling through Weynton Passage. The A67s led the way, followed by the A80, A34, A55, and the A96s, before spreading out between Bauza and Blinkhorn to forage.
They headed west again that evening, disappearing from view in Queen Charlotte Strait around 8pm, with A55 meandering along behind. But they certainly weren’t finished for the night.
Shortly after 9pm, calls returned to Flower Island… but it wasn’t the voices we had heard earlier in the day. A5 calls rang through our hydrophone and after not hearing their familiar calls for more than a couple weeks, it was quite an exciting moment in the Lab. About an hour later the A34s were back too, with Helena confirming the A62s were amongst them. At one point, we had three different species – orca, humpback, and PWDs – on the same station, quite a symphony of calls indeed!
The final hour of the day became wonderfully chaotic. Blows were heard throughout Blackney Pass travelling south and clearing into Johnstone Strait while calls bounced between Flower Island, Parson Island and Cracroft Point. We could hear tail slaps, splashes, PWD chatter and even a possible humpback breach, with several groups of orcas eventually travelling past CP and then east through the Strait. From the number of blows that passed through, we can infer that some of the A5s (which matriline is to be determined) were travelling with all of the A34s.
After spending the day spread out, turning around, and disappearing from view, everyone seemed to save their energy for the darkness, when sometimes hearing the chaos is even more fun.
