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July 21 2022 Orcas: A54s, A35s, A73s,A56 What an orca moment! The A4 groups, just before midnight, suddenly ÒopenedÓ up after being virtually silent on their entry into Johnstone Strait earlier. The floor had been held by the A54s who made the journey up the Strait to greet the incoming whales off the entrance of Blackney Pass. To say there was excitement would be an understatement. These groups, from the same clan and community, know each other well and are generous in their willingness to share and embrace each otherÕs presence cementing family bonds in ways we can only imagine. Once near each other the job at hand was to coordinate and find a way to move and coordinate together. We are talking 25 whales - rather mirroring the gathering we have here at OrcaLab at the moment! The A4s and A54s shifted away from the entrance to Blackney Pass and did their sorting in the area between Vancouver Island and Cracroft Island. They did not go east very far but when well sorted and ready they headed through Blackney Pass from 1:38am to 1:43am surprising Heylie with their swiftness. Their mix of calls became very clear once in Blackfish Sound by 2am. They never reduced their pace and were out of range by 2:38am. A quieter rest of the night followed until Tomoko heard distant A4 calls at 6:25am. This was the only clue that they were in range once again and later we surmised that they had headed through Weynton Pass. Three hours later, at 9:24am, Suzie and Megan (headed to Alert Bay) reported that the A4s and the A54s were between Big Bay and Vancouver Island. By 9:40am we located them on the Cracroft remote camera. At first the going must have been easy for them but on reaching the entrance to Blackney they made a collective decision to try for Blackney Pass. The flooding tide opposed their efforts so they slowed down, relaxed and regrouped several times. The effect of this was lovely for those watching. The whales floated, spyhopped, rolled, changed direction more than once but never gave up. Somehow they found just the right approach and after almost slipping in front of Cracroft Point they made one final turn into Blackney at 10:51am. Eight minutes later they achieved their goal and came into view of the Lab. They still had work to do but by 11:52am they cleared into Blackfish Sound. We were able to follow them on the Flower Island remote camera up until 12:36 pm. The whales continued west into Queen Charlotte Strait surrounded by five boats. A longish break ensued during which we had a nice interlude watching schooling salmon jumping their way ÒdownÓ Johnstone Strait close to Vancouver Island. Recently everyone has been remarking on the number of salmon showing up. Scotty filled in some of the missing hours. At 2pm the whales were just NW of the Egeria Shoal (off the northern end of Swanson Island) when they turned toward the direction of Donegal Head slowly southbound. Not too far away! He noticed how the A54s were in the lead along with the A73s but that the A35s who were following were scattered by the unfortunate behaviour of a couple of boats. Then at 4:22pm Alex reported that the whales were off Donegal Head lolling about amongst the jumping pink salmon! Even though the orcas were now in range once again we did not start a recording until 5:14pm when there were faint calls.The calls continued to past 6:20pm with echo location indicating their direction and intent on coming east to Blackney Pass. But still after the long afternoon break the sudden appearance of the groups was again a welcome surprise. The whales were in a hurry and wasted little time getting to Johnstone Strait. No cuddling this time, it was all business. They had rubs on their minds! Once in Johnstone Strait after 7pm they continued east. They were still spread out as they had been in Blackney. By 8:21pm the majority were close to or had already passed the eastern headland of Robson Bight . A few minutes later we could see them on the Strider remote camera. Ten minutes later they went into Strider and Main Rubbing Beaches for extended rubs. The rub at Main ended at 9:41pm - an hour and seven minutes. The rub at Strider ended at 9:43pm - an hour and nine minutes. It was an extraordinary sunset rub with beautiful calls. From the beaches the whales trekked back to the west and ÒupÓ the Strait mostly following the Vancouver Island shore. They were opposite Kaizumi by 10:47pm and even though we could hear loud water swirls we donÕt believe they went for a rub but perhaps, as suggested by the amount of echolocation, instead were foraging. They were especially close around 11pm. As the progression continued west, whales who were closer to mid strait were heard on the Cracroft Point hydrophone. Over the next hour the calls gradually became fainter and we interpreted this as a generally westward trend and a possible departure via Weynton Passage.
OrcaLab
22 Jul 2022 12:41:25 PDT |
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