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July 30 2022 Orcas: A50s, A54s,A73s The early hours of July 30th were a particular challenge because the A30s apparently separated into two groups and occupied different locales. Before midnight at least part of the A30s (perhaps even all) had moved into Blackfish Sound. Just before 1am there was movement, someone had started back towards Blackney Pass. Blows were heard heading south at 1:19am then calls. A few minutes later separate calls were heard on the Flower Island hydrophone and in Johnstone Strait. Two parties for sure. The group in Blackfish/Blackney Pass lingered, shifting south slowly. Blows were heard outside until at least 2:16am. Meanwhile the group in Johnstone Strait, which included the A73s, continued to call and by 2:20am they seemed to occupy the area between Vancouver Island and Cracroft Point. They were not particularly close to any of the hydrophones in the remote network and we are not sure of their exact entry point. Had they gone through Blackney or come in from Weynton Pass? Part of the Blackney group possibly made it close to Johnstone Strait as the other group travelled even further east for a while longer. The Blackney group turned around 3:15am and headed back to Blackfish Sound. The Johnstone Strait group did not follow until much later at 4:25am. By 4:42am they too were in Blackfish Sound and heading west after 5:15am. In the end we speculated that the Blackney group (the pacers) were the A54s and that it was the A50s who ,with the A73s, were the ones in Johnstone Strait. This was solely based on the observation that A73 was travelling closest to the A50s on other occasions before and after this early morning milieu. We had our morning to ourselves pretty much. The fog was pretty thick so Megan had to wait for it to lift enough before she could go to town and pick up long time volunteer Shari who was returning to OrcaLab after an absence of a few years. Observers in Queen Charlotte Strait found the A50s and A73s (and more) near Lizard Point at 10:20am. At 11am the A30s and A73s were off the “top” end of Blackfish Sound east of Donegal head. There were no calls. After all our hard work during the early morning trying to track the whales by blows and calls, the now silent orcas slipped past us deep in the fog bank which had descended once again across half of Blackney Pass. We had not been listening to the talk on the VHF so we only became aware of their return to Johnstone Strait when Jackie called and told us they were off Cracroft Point! The Strait was much clearer than Blackney so Jordan was able to find them as they headed east quickly after crossing closer to the Vancouver island side. They called for a short while during the cross and around 3pm they passed Kaizumi beach where a couple of kayakers right at the beach may have discouraged any chance of a rub, even a quick one. Lucky for the whales they have other choices. Before 4pm, the groups were passing Robson Bight and then on their way through the rest of the Ecological Reserve toward Strider and Main beaches. Between 4:11pm and 4:22pm their calls became increasingly clearer and closer as they neared their destination. Then came at 4:23pm the distinctive chuff sound of pebbles being displaced. The rub at Strider had begun! On the underwater camera the whales streamed from the west, one after the other. But then most activity stayed for a long while along the eastern side of the beach. We saw a lot of the A73s on the surface camera and even underwater at 4:55pm after they had ventured closer to Main where they made some clear calls but did not rub before returning to Strider. The entire rub lasted until 5:18pm - just shy of an hour. Then it was back up the Strait for everyone: 5:40pm off Critical Point/Robson Bight; 7pm near Kaizumi; 7:37pm off Cracroft Point and the entrance to Blackney; 7:42pm heading north in Blackney Pass. The rub must have re-energised them because with the encouragement of a favorable tide they very quickly navigated their way into Blackfish Sound but not before several breaches by some of the excited youngsters. What were they excited about? From 8:10pm to 8:40pm we followed them on the remote camera and listened to their calls as they grew more and more distant. Their day and ours, was about to end where it began.
OrcaLab
31 Jul 2022 09:25:04 PDT |
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