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September 1 2024 Northern Residents:A54s, A23s,A25s, I04s,I277s, I65s [A42s plus A94 in Salish Sea] Humpbacks: Argonaut, Stitch, Ridge, Freckle and baby, Quartz Pacific White-sided dolphins A new month, familiar whales, similar patterns. After midnight, the A54s, A23s, A25s and the I15s were making their way east through Johnstone Strait. The enthusiastic I15s (which of the three groups was uncertain) had already drawn closer to Strider before midnight. They remained close to that area from then on until just before 1am. The A54s and the two A5 matrilines, the A23s and A25s, had already faded to the east around 12:39am. A final burst of strong echolocation at Strider at 12:55am finalized the recording. More than two hours passed before the I15s came back into range. Over the next hour all calls were distant and no one seemed at first to be near the Vancouver Island shoreline. Calls were echoey and distant including those of the ÒAsÓ now on scene too as well. At 3:38am, all the groups Òopened upÓ and became vocal. They quickly settled down and calls became less frequent. On their way west an I15 group nudged closer to Strider at 4:51am but did commit to a rub. Right up to 6:36am the I15 calls remained infrequent. A faint ÒAÓ call interjected at 6:29am. Then it was back to those very sporadic I15 calls. Jump ahead to 7:38am and the realization that the I15s had come into Blackney Pass and were already being heard on the local hydrophone! But AugustÕs curse of fog had spilled over into this first day of September. It was just too foggy to see - anything. We could still hear and knew that these whales made it to Blackfish Sound. Their calls were close at 7:42am and faint by 8:02am. Jump ahead now to noon. The A42s and A94 were reported foraging off Wilby Shoals south of Cape Mudge on Quadra Island. It is great we get these reports. They have been so long in the Salish Sea that it is easy to forget that they are still there and not far from the action in Johnstone Strait - just a dayÕs journey really. They donÕt seem motivated to leave yet. At 12:28pm echolocation on Strider got our attention. It was followed by an A25 and A23 rub a minute later. Before the rub was over at 1:10pm we managed to identify A109 and A126. It was a pretty good effort lasting 41 minutes with underwater images of the whales engaged in the rub. Something we had to think about were the distant I15 calls at 1:02pm. Where were they, already further west? We know that the average travel distance from Strider to Critical Point is about twenty minutes. On this occasion the whales took an efficient eighteen minutes. The A54s were heard at this time. After Critical (which is the eastern headland of Robson Bight) the trek west was marked by a passing of the Kaizumi beach area which is not that far west of the Bight but it took the whales a good hour to cover the distance regardless. The whales,noticeably the A5s, must have slowed down a lot. Their rather crazy calls were a good indicator about their state of being. They were still nearby just before 3pm. On the other side of the Strait, the Cliff was watching the A75s (of the A54s) and others from the same matriline. Despite there being a lot of whales the calls became sporadic around and after 4pm. When the calls got going again they were on the Cracroft system. It was now 4:25pm and the whales were going to make it to Blackney! It took only a short while of organizing off Cracroft for the whales to move properly into Blackney by 4:42pm. The inevitable dolphins were with them. Without going into details it took the various groups until 5:33pm to go from our view and into Blackfish Sound. Orcas can get through Blackney in ten minutes if they have to so this was not one of the speediest trips by far. The calls ended an hour later in Blackfish at 6:35pm. Not forgetting the humpbacks, who are always there, moving about, making occasional calls, associating with each other occasionally, feeding and even tending their young ones. This year the humpbacks have been visiting the Hanson Island shore more frequently than in the past. At 7:56pm one humpback did just that and more. Argonaut was close and vocal on the local hydrophone. The event went on for a long time. There were more humpback sounds locally until past 10pm. From now on we will probably notice more and more vocal activity from the humpbacks in the next month or two. We understood better why the ResidentÕs calls had stopped at 6:35pm. The whales, the A30s, I15s and A5s. had gone Weynton Passage only to be heard at 10:08pm again in Johnstone Strait. The calls only lasted until 10:46pm and would not resume until after midnight. This day was a good start to September. And, although the busyness of these whales makes it feel like one day blends into another, we are just so relieved by the ÒnormalityÓ of it all. Two of our most trusty assistants, Jordan and Momoko came to the end of their visits to the Lab. Jordan left on the 31st and Momoko on the 1st. Cannot say enough about how much they have been appreciated. This was JordanÕs second visit to the Lab. Momoko has been coming since forever, only missing during the COVID travel restrictions. Both, on their way to Vancouver will take their respective flights to their homes in the UK and Japan. Speedy and safe travels and thank you!
OrcaLab
02 Sep 2024 20:59:40 PDT |
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August 31 2024 Northern Residents: A34s (heard only), A54s, A23s, A25s,I04s, I65s, I27s Humpbacks:Quartz, ?Hakai Pacific White-sided dolphins The restless A54s, A23s, and A25s may not have gone far into Johnstone Strait after coming through Blackney late the previous evening. They may have shifted west and then reversed direction. By 1:21am they were hustling north through Blackney. When they got to Blackfish Sound they had enough determination to carry on to the west. Close and clear calls at 1:30am became distant ones by 1:50am. By 2:20am we could no longer hear them. You may have noticed that we did not mention the I15s in this early morning back and forth. I15s (an unidentified group) had abandoned the others in Blackfish Sound and did not follow the A54s, A23s.and A25s back to Johnstone Strait. It has been hard to keep track of the various I15 groups because they are not always together but have, at times, become independent. Acoustically they are too similar for us to discriminate. So it came as no surprise that in the dayÕs next chapter, at 5:25am, a single I15 call was heard. Impossible to source the origin. It was repeated at 6:32am but by 7:25am the I15 calls were definitely on the Parson Island station. Jianna had done a good job in identifying the calls and location. These whales were near the entrance to Blackney Pass. The calls were only moderately loud so more likely than not this group was nearer the Vancouver Island side as they headed east The A54s called out from Blackfish Sound at 7:56am. . It really didnÕt take the I15 group long to get to Strider.They were there by 8:24am. In their hurry they merely brushed the beach. The three small dorsal fins were surrounded by dolphins. Nineteen minutes later the same three returned and began a longer rub. They ended their rub at 8:49am by going west. We knew, not just by the size and character of the I15 group at Strider but also by the fact that the A54s were now joined by the A5s and another I15 group (or groups) by 9:093am. Their calls would continue until 12:50pm. Already the Johnstone Strait I15 group had passed Robson Bight and had taken a quick one minute rub at Kaizumi at 11:36am. The Blackfish Sound whales, the A54s, A23s,A25s and theI15 group(s) decided they were ready to go through Blackney Pass by 12:52pm. This passing helped a lot. We learned that it was the I27s who were helping contribute to those I15 calls! We had not seen the I27s for several days after they disappeared out to the west. It appeared as if they had been fetched by the A62s who were also back after a brief absence. Additionally, the I04s (also of the I15s), the A23s and A25s and A54s were identified before they cleared our view by 1:31pm. By elimination the original Johnstone Strait I15 group must have been the I65s. Getting into the Strait the groups spread out in the middle east of Cracroft Point as they moved east. Nearing Kaizumi, the A25s, among the others, called and echolocated regularly from 2pm until 2:23pm. From there the families moved toward Robson Bight. There were the noted close calls, more echolocation and whistles. By 3:11pm they were moving on. The whistles may have been a hint that these whales were ready and primed for a long rub at Strider. It started at 3:19pm with close calls, whistles and echolocation. By 3:28pm they were all in. Individuals from the different families were identified in sequence; A60 (from the A23s), I76 (from the I4s,A109 (from the A23s), and A69 (also from the A23s). A34 (read A62) calls were heard at 3:45pm but there was no evidence visually that they were near the beach. Instead, they would be the first back at Critical Point and Robson Bight by 4:21pm. The 51 minute rub had ended eleven minutes prior. Calls suddenly ceased and the whales porpoised away to the west. Then their combined calls on the Critical Point station lasted until 4:38pm. Of course, as they moved away the calls began to fade. For a while only distant faint calls were heard. In the mix the A62s were heard again. This time faintly on the Kaizumi system along with an I15 group. It was not yet 6pm but the scene was developing with whales closing in on the entrance to Blackney Pass. In relatively short order at 6:18pm the A54, A23, A25, and I4 families filed into Blackney Pass. Only the I4s were clearly identified from the I15s. The A62s were not obviously there causing us to speculate that perhaps they kept going west in the Strait with some of the other I15s as company. The A25s were last to go into Blackfish at 6:52. The orcas carried on calling in Blackfish then suddenly stopped at 7:47pm for just under an hour then continued. Had they come across the A62s and rest of the I15s in Weynton and Blackfish. Was this where they said their good-byes to the A62s? The A62s would be heard in Queen Charlotte Strait aroun 10am the next morning. Soon after echolocation indicated that some of the orcas had turned. They were in Blackney Pass by 9:32pm travelling this time in three groups. Loud call at 9:55pm declared their approach to Johnstone Strait. At 10pm the loud calls on the Cracroft Point system announced their arrival. From there the A30 (A54s), A5s (A23s, A25s) and I15s fanned out. Their calls were everywhere. In the hour before midnight there was evidence of their progress east, nearing Robson Bight together around 11:19pm. An II5 group was close to Strider just before this day and month ended. The glorious orca filled August, the foggy August, the rainy August, the family and friend filled August had finished. It was time to turn a new page in the calendar and wonder what stories in September will be told?
OrcaLab
02 Sep 2024 09:38:45 PDT |
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