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September 18,19, 20 Humpbacks: Merge,Stitch,Inukshuk, possibly Quartz, BCXuk2022#7, Pacific White-sided Dolphins The last few days can be summed up pretty quickly: humpbacks, dolphins, sea lions! The humpbacks and the dolphins have kept the airways lively with their sounds; from the humpbacks - growls, grunts, high pitched swoops, down sweeps, burbles, bubbles, whups and more; from the dolphins - lots of chatter, echo location and splashy sounds. Even the sea lions contribute with their loud growls when hauled out, snorts and wheezes when in the water. The past three nights have been filled, almost non stop with humpback and dolphin calls, from close to far away, mostly in Blackfish Sound, occasionally in Blackney Pass. September 18 was marked by some very beautiful humpback sounds through the night, especially from 1:30am until 5:30am, complemented by dolphins throughout. In the afternoon a huge flock of dolphins charged into Blackney Pass. A large number of sea lions joined them as both indulged in a frenzy of feeding, charging one way, then another, all at high speed while energetically leaping and splashing. It began around 2:30pm and did not let up until past 4:30pm when a humpback got into the act and surfaced close to the Lab amongst the crazed scene. This humpback turned out to be an individual who had not been seen in this area before but who was apparently a regular in Southeast Alaska since 2016. We did not know this until Jackie Hildering of MERS had a look at the good pictures Paul took and told us. Prior to that we had scoured the Humpback ID catalogue over and over trying to find a match with no luck and so we finally sent Jackies the pictures. MERS has assigned this humpback with the temporary ID of BCXuk2022#7 while they investigate if SEAK (Southeast Alaska) has already given this humpback a nickname. We are waiting to find out. After BCXuk2022#7 pushed in, the dolphin scene shifted into Blackfish Sound where we continued to watch on the remote camera. From 6pm on and through the rest of the evening and early morning of September 19 there were near continuous humpback and dolphin conversations, close at first, then more distant and intermittent as time went on. Inukshuk, mid afternoon of September 19 was again very active physically, this time in Blackney Pass. He had the dubious pleasure of attracting both dolphins and sea lions who surrounded him. He reappeared, still very active, just after 5pm. This time dolphins were not noted but the humpback sounds then were most likely from him. The ever present dolphins continued their chatter in Blackfish Sound from 9:48pm past the September 20 midnight. Distant at first, an inevitable humpback struck up on his own and the two species then toggled their sounds through the rest of the early hours until an equally inevitable boat impacted the soundscape. Sporadic efforts faded off into the distance. A much smaller group of dolphins and sea lions were back foraging across from the Lab at 8:50am and between 12:30pm and 3:15pm a humpback made vocal probably while engaged in feeding at the southern end of Blackney Pass. The dolphins in the same local were talkative too. Boat noise intruded again, this time from the Alaskan Ferry as it transited through. Humpback and dolphins alike gave up. The sea lions by afternoon were back on the rocks in numbers. Around seventy were hauled out on the local Hanson Island rocks, a few on the exposed rocks by Parson Light and surprisingly over twenty on the Bell Rocks. The evening humpback and dolphin serenade began at 9:15pm with a nice variety of sounds from both groups. The blows of an individual humpback before 11pm seemed particularly close to the Lab so the night promised to be busy once again. Hard to miss the Northern Resident orcas (but we certainly do) with all this going on!
OrcaLab
21 Sep 2022 09:07:04 PDT |
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