Sunday, September 04, 2022




September 3 2022 Orcas: A50s, A54s,A23s, A25s, I04s, I16s,,I27s,I65s Humpbacks: Guardian,Merge, Quartz Pacific White-sided dolphins The scene was set. The A5s (the A23s and A25s) had already accompanied the I16s (an I15 matriline) into Johnstone Strait vis Weynton Pass and had made it to Strider beach, where they rubbed for nine minutes, all by the time the A30s and the other I15 matrilines (the I04s, I27s and I65s) made it to Johnstone Strait via Blackney Pass and were heading east from Cracroft Point. There was the possibility that one of the A5 groups, (perhaps the A25s) held back slightly and were on hand when the A30s began to approach the Kaizumi area after midnight while the other A5 group (the A23s) was further east. Among the groups there was a lot of seeming excitement, noted by the numerous calls, at the possibility of coming together. This was the first visit this year by the I16s. The other three I15 matrilines had already made one visit earlier in the season and had been around for a few days by this time. Last year the I16s barely made an appearance. So nice that the entire group was together again. Making it to Critical Point in Robson Bight by 1:14am signalled that some of the A30s had progressed as far as the Ecological Reserve. A30s were soon at Strider beach for a rub of their own at 1:22am. It was a brief effort and they were soon passing Main beach to the east. The lagging A5 group mixed it up with some of the I15s and other A30s for another quick rub at 1:33am. Four minutes later they too were off Main beach. All the groups convened off of the beaches and there was a jumble of mixed calls and even yet another nine minute rub at Strider involving A30s, A5s and I15s, from 1:46am to 1:55am. A humpback in Blackfish Sound provided a brief interlude to the continuous orca calls around 3am. That was it for rubs and the flotilla of orcas moved on east of the Reserve. Calls became distant, faint and probably out of range for a time around 5:40am. More faint and distant calls resumed at 6:06am. They had obviously not gone far and because the entire group numbered forty-two individuals it was taking time to come together, organise and coordinate movement back to the west. Hints that they were successful came just before 8am when echolocation was heard at Strider. There were enough whales who chose to be on the Vancouver Island side that they were off both Main and Strider simultaneously. A rub actually started at Main at the same time as one at Strider at 8:39am. A technical glitch prevented us determining when the rub ended at Main but the one at Strider continued until 9:21am. There had been A30, I15 and A5 calls. A61 was clearly identified but no one from the A23s. Lots of dolphins skitted about while the orcas rubbed. The orcas along with the dolphins left to the west and were soon approaching Robson Bight not long after. Boat Bay would later tell us that some of the A50s (remember the A30s had been travelling in seperate groups) with the I16s were travelling west closer to the Cracroft Island side around 10:15am. We watched those closer to Vancouver Island pass Kaizumi from 10am onwards, acoustically A30s then A5s and finally I15s filed past. In wide formation, utilising the entire width of the Strait, from shore to shore, the orcas made their way towards Cracroft Point. By 10:30am they were arriving. They began to move toward the entrance of Blackney Pass as early as 10:38am. Others followed and by 10:50am the last group, the A23s, had made the turn into the entryway as well. After watching the various groups pass the Lab we finally settled on the following group order: the I16s, A50s, A54s, I04s, A25s, I65s, I27s and finally the A23s. They had all cleared by 11:30am but not before A126 (A69Õs baby) breached several times mid channel, and other individuals hesitated and milled briefly before carrying on to Blackfish Sound. Increasingly faint calls lasted until just after 1pm. The whales carried on to Queen Charlotte Strait. At 5:45pm very faint and indistinct ÒAÓcalls were heard once again in Johnstone Strait. The faintest echolocation was then heard at 6:51pm. A report of twenty plus orcas off Telegraph Cove was relayed at 7:30pm and finally at 9:01pm distinct A5 calls were heard on the Cracroft Point hydrophone for about a half hour. At 10:43pm I15 calls were heard for a few minutes in the distance in Blackfish Sound. What a fizzle of an ending to the day! Nothing much to hang our hats on just vague indications.The fresh southeast wind had morphed itself into rain, change was literally in the air. 
OrcaLab
04 Sep 2022 09:37:48 PDT
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