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Superb sounds!!
August 20 2022 Orcas: A50s, A54s Humpbacks: Guardian, Stitch, Tag Pacific Whitesided dolphins, Dall’s porpoise The A30s continued in Johnstone Strait in silence, and we believe it was the A54s who peeled away first to the east, while the A50s lingered back. Just before 1am, the A54s became vocal as they foraged in the Bight, catching a midnight snack in their favourite feeding spot. They continued on, pausing for one brief fly-by of Strider Rubbing Beach at 2am. Their calls grew fainter as the family milled offshore, heading east into the night. The A50s, meanwhile, had likely stayed back. At 4am we heard a few brief ‘chuffs’ from scattering pebbles at Kaizumi but they, too, did not rub for long. They followed the flukeprints of the A54s and we tracked their calls getting closer to Strider for the next couple of hours. At 6:36am, as the sun began to burst through the dawn fog, A50 (Clio) and her youngest came to rub at Strider alone. They stayed for a short while, and we captured some beautiful footage of the pair in glassy, orange waters. They moved to the west, making room for Bend (A72) to come for a solitary rub at 6:56am. She, too, followed suit to the west, as did the rest of her family. They left us a trail of audible clues, as the A50s hugged the Vancouver Island shoreline until Kaizumi, where they began to cross over Johnstone Strait to Cracroft Point around 9:15am. The morning - like all mornings recently - was shrouded in heavy fog, and only blows were available to the pair tracking whales at our remote outpost. As seems to be their habit these days, the A50s foraged off Cracroft Point for a while, making the most of the easy fishing brought by the flooding current. We saw them on camera briefly just before noon as a fog bank lifted, alongside a small group of Pacific White-sided Dolphins minutes later. Around this time, the A54s were at Eve River and heading west, back towards the Reserve. Around the turn of the tide, the A50s made their move into Blackney Pass at 12:40pm. Our view was partly covered in fog, and the whales’ dorsals were barely visible behind the curtain. It took a little while for them to pass, and they stayed largely together as a group until they were out of our sight at 1:30pm. The A54s made their entrance from the east, rubbing briefly at Main at 2:32pm before continuing on to Strider. It was a lovely event and we saw some beautiful scenes above and below water. They had stopped by 3pm and off to the west along the shore. Perhaps sensing the movements of the A54s, the A50s promptly turned in Blackfish Sound and were back in our view, close to the lab, at 2:42pm. It truly was an all hands on deck occurrence as we paid attention to the whales out front and the rubs at Strider all at once, The A50s were in a tight group and travelled slowly by. Now fighting an opposing ebb, it took them until 3:54pm to clear from our view towards the Strait. By now, we have become fairly good at predicting their movements and, sure enough, we sensed what was to happen next. The A50s reached Cracroft Point and foraged for a while, steadily crossing Johnstone Strait and angling to the west. The A54s, meanwhile, had followed the curve of the Vancouver Island shoreline, rubbing briefly at Kaizumi at 4:37pm, before continuing west. In synchrony, two sides of a triangle, the two groups were set to intersect with one another. It is incredible how they coordinate their movements despite vast waterways and islands in-between. We watched their fading fins for as long as we could, satisfied that the groups would meet up once more. Sure enough, at 7:36pm, we got word of them altogether around kaikash creek. They moved out to the middle of the channel and wordlessly travelled east. Perhaps taking a moment to rest together, or perhaps just nothing that needed saying. It was a while until we heard them again: just before 10pm all the way down at Main rubbing beach. Their calls were brief and fairly distant, as they headed off into the darkness together. One final rub at Strider at 11pm was their last hurrah, as they moved onwards to the east. Brief rubs today, perhaps saving their energy for what was to come the next day, but that is tomorrow’s story!
Suzie, OL
21 Aug 2022 10:37:51 PDT |
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