Friday, August 26, 2022




August 26 2022 Orcas: A50s, A54s, A23s, T011A Humpbacks: Claw and baby, Stitch, Guardian, Ridge, Squiggle, Inukshuk, Quartz, Tag, Domino Pacific White-sided dolphins, Dallas Porpoise Sea Lions hauled out on Parson Light Rocks The A50s are good at dropping few hints, keeping us guessing as to what they might be doing and where. A test of sorts for us. Some nights it feels like we are connecting disjointed dots in our attempts to try to understand the movement of these orcas. Not compelled to always vocalise, they are adept at finding their way through the waterways of this area and the rest of the coast as well with remarkable ease. Just imagine!. The early hours of this day offered little. We had been thinking that the A50s were westbound at the end of the previous day. But then the boat noise grew intense and the calls dropped off. At 1am there were a few calls and some echolocation off Cracroft Point followed by whistles and more echololation off the entrance to Blackney Pass. This lasted until 2:18am. This echolocation was the only indication that the A50s might have turned into Blackney Pass and headed northwest to Blackfish Sound. This impression was backed up later in the morning from a report of the A50s off Egeria Shoals heading to Bold Head at 8:45am. Our attention had already been peaked by a report from the Cliff that T011A, a Bigg’s orca, had been identified and was headed toward Cracroft Point. At 9:31am T011A, also known as Rainy, was approaching the CP camp very close to the Cracroft Island shore. He was in our view ten minutes later. He smartly moved along silently until he reached White beach Pass where he turned momentarily before carrying on and clearing the Pass just after 10am. The A50s were clearly eastbound in Blackfish Sound at the same time. At some point they must have passed Rainy who was seen travelling west near to both humpbacks and Pacific White-sided dolphins. Interesting company for a Bigg’s oreca!. A humpback, perhaps one of the two nearby Rainy, gave a brief sound. Rainy wasted no time getting into Queen Charlotte Strait where he was seen headed toward Lizard Point Before the A50s made it to Blackney Pass another report from the day before confirmed our suspicion that the A23s and the A54s had gone east. They had been found in Nodales Channel, a favourite haunt off the eastern end of Johnstone Strait. Just before noon the A50s came into view. They were favouring mid channel and moving all together in a relaxed but steady way until they cleared out of sight at 12:12pm. Five minutes later they were in Johnstone Strait. The strong northwest wind was blowing as hard there as it had been in Blackfish Sound. The strong winds promised by multiple forecasts finally materialised. Pretty dramatic especially combined with the strong currents usually happening in the entrance of Blackney Pass. Not a worry for the orcas but these conditions had almost dire consequences later in the day. The current as the A50s turned east was flooding at a maximum rate of 4.2 knots. While the A50s had current and wind to encourage them, the A23s and A54s, on their way back to the eastern end of the Ecological Reserve must have had a much harder time. Just before 1pm we began to hear their calls as they slowly approached Main Rubbing beach. As their calls got stronger and stronger as they got closer and closer to Main the A50s had achieved Kaizumi beach to the west of them. They must have sensed just how close they were to coming back together because at 1:08pm the A23s, in particular, burst into excited calls. The A54s followed suit a short while later. The remote camera at Strider caught sight of west bound whales off shore of Strider. And still there were excited calls at Main indicating how spread the groups were. At 1:22pm a rub started at both Main and Strider at the same time! A60, Fife, was identified in the waves at Strider. The rub at Main ended at 1:30pm and a minute later so did the one at Strider. Everybody went west pushing through the northwest swells in the direction of Robson Bight They reached Critical Point (Robson Bight) at 1:50pm. From there they moved to Kaizumi beach where at 2:57pm a few made a brief rub. By 3pm orcas were arriving off Cracroft Point. Quite the journey, especially for the A23s and A54s. They would not get help from the currents until 5:30pm when an almost equally strong ebb would begin. Despite this the groups carried on to the west, perhaps wisely avoiding the still flooding current coming out from Blackney Pass. By the time they reached Weynton, probably sometime after 5pm, they were better positioned to eventually take advantage of the favourable currents into Weynton Pass. But it was still over three hours before we heard the orcas on the “other side” in Blackfish Sound. The A23s seemed to arrive first and were followed by the A30s. There were a lot of calls and echolocation which only got louder. They seemed to be coming east toward Blackney Pass. Unfortunately, the wind and the waves were too heavy and it was impossible to hear blows. One single call on the Local Centre hydrophone confirmed that someone had made it to Blackney Pass. It was now 10pm. It would be another half hour before other calls occurred in the entrance to Blackney Pass confirmed passage to Johnstone Strait. However, only A30 calls were heard. What of the others? Had they come as silent partners or had they merely crossed Blackfish and departed to Queen Charlotte Strait? Not enough information! Once in Johnstone Strait the whales settled on the rather generic calls and a bit of echolocation before becoming mute by 10:48pm. Then nothing more past midnight. It was rather amusing that when the orcas reached Johnstone Strait a humpback accompanied their calls with his own repertoire, grumblings and whups. Earlier, just before dark, and before the orcas made it to Blackney, the humpbacks known as Inukshuk and Quartz had come close to the Lab breaching and pec slapping. They weren’t feeding, just playful in the windy waves. They parted in opposite directions with Inukshuk moving south, Quartz north. Did Inukshuk become the interesting vocalist off Cracroft Point? The above list of the many humpbacks shows just how busy and well attended the Pass is throughout the day. Glance around and everywhere are the tall plumes of breaths shooting skyward, suspended momentarily, then dissipating after capture by the wind. We mentioned the heavy winds off Cracroft Point. Mid afternoon a group of kayakers found themselves in trouble in the strong currents and wind. One kayak flipped over and its occupant was tossed into the water. Megan, Shari and Momoko were watching and Megan immediately called in a MayDay over the VFH. Coast Guard 508 responded as did Farewell Harbour. Both arrived on scene within fifteen minutes. The situation was resolved, all the kayakers got safely to shore and although the woman had swallowed water she was declared okay by the medic on board the Coast Guard boat. This was after Megan and Momoko had brought over warm clothes and a hot drink. The Coast Guard then accompanied them safely to a place where they could camp overnight and requested that they would not go out again the next day as the winds were still forecast to be as heavy. The kayakers were all very grateful to everyone who had helped. Megan was commended for her handling of the MayDay. On a very different front, the Lab volunteers who wished to go (a few stayed behind) went off in the late afternoon to enjoy the annual Boat Bay party hosted by the Cliff crew and Wardens. The northwester had one very positive attribute - the skies were clear, the stars came out shining, no fog was looming! 
OrcaLab
27 Aug 2022 07:47:13 PDT
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August 25 2022 Orcas: A50s, A54s,A23s,?T038s Humpbacks: Claw and baby, Stitch,Quartz,Tag, Inukshuk As far as we understand, without further proof, the A23s and the A54s continued east from the eastern boundary of the Ecological Reserve. The last evidence we had were their calls off of Strider and Main beaches around midnight. Sometime before we had heard the faint calls of the A50s as they, perhaps always separate from the other two groups, stayed within audible range for the rest of the night and early morning. No calls could be clearly attributed to the other two groups - it was all seemingly A50s except for a humpback who growled, grunted and swirled next to Strider beach at 4:30am. In due course at least the A50s moved past Robson Bight, Kazumi and eventually Cracroft Point where despite the fog, A84, A72 and A108 were confirmed by Megan and Shari at 9am. Half an hour before orcas were seen on the Vancouver Island side. Curiously they were eastbound. Was this A50, A123 and A99, the other half of the A50s and afterwards did they swing across to the Cracroft Island side or were there still other groups in play? So few audio clues and lousy foggy conditions we will have to leave off with a few loose ends. However they engineered it, all the A50s left the Cracroft Point area and went through Blackney Pass starting at 9:22am. They were silent and all we could do, with no visibility whatsoever, was listen and count blows. They found their way through Blackfish by employing their echolocation, still refusing to vocalize. A report was received past 12pm that the A50s had made it to the White Cliff Islets. They were looking very social - another way of saying relaxed. Hours passed. Just past 4pm, they were back in Blackney Pass and headed south. You are correct if you have guessed that the fog by this time had lifted. Brief passing. They were out of view by 4:23pm. Once in the Strait they foraged off the entrance to Blackney Pass before scooting across to the Kaikash area by 6pm. As they headed along the Vancouver Island shoreline there was one pass over of the Kazumi beach at 6:18pm. After a moment’s hesitation the A50s resumed their path going east and at 6:49pm they were easting off Izumi Rock. We would not pick up their trail again until 8:21pm when they were approaching Robson Bight and Critical Point. Meanwhile a group of Bigg’s orcas were in Blackney Pass. First spotted heading to Blackney Pass at 6:26pm by Nancy and David as they returned in the Sonic from a town run. It would be another hour before we caught another report of Bigg’s when by Parson Light. Sea lions are beginning to haul out on the rocks by Parson Light and they did “look” nervous, aware probably of the proximity of the Bigg’s orcas moving south toward them very slowly. It was, however, a small group, too far for us to identify except to note there were up to four individuals including a very young one and no adult males. The nearby whale watching boat tentatively identified them as the T038s. They did not make much head way and in fact by 8:07pm they were seen heading further into Parson Bay. The Bigg’s eventually stepped out of Parson Bay and at 8:44pm were seen one last time mid channel heading south just past the Lab. They took an incredibly deep, long dive and were lost to the gloom of the evening light. By 8:40pm the A50s were much closer to Robson Bight. Over the next hour they remained in this vicinity. 10:24pm marked only a few more distant calls suggested perhaps another change in direction. There was a lot of boat noise. The day was nearly done, a few questions lingering. 
OrcaLab
26 Aug 2022 11:48:54 PDT
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Thursday, August 25, 2022




August 24 2022 Orcas: A50s, A54s, A23s Humpbacks: Stitch, Quartz, Tag, Inukshuk and maybe Argonaut For the first time in a while, all groups moved out to the west overnight, and our morning was spent in anticipation of their return. Shortly after midnight, the A30s and A23s made a bid for Blackney. Shari, listening on the remote platform, heard breaches and blows. By 12:30am, the A30s were audible on Parson Island, and began their journey into our pass. The A23s would mill off the point for a while. At 1:09am, a humpback breached close to the lab, sending a loud crash echoing round the trees. The A30s' blows could be heard by 1:14am, traveling fairly quickly to the north. Their calls in Blackfish Sound were brief. It took the A23s a little longer to decide on their next move (or perhaps, they were just enjoying the Strait to themselves!), Whatever their motives, they finally followed the A30s through Blackney and into the Sound shortly after 3am. All whales moved out to the west, leaving us in silence for the remainder of the night. The August fog has well and truly persisted. We are enveloped in thick, low clouds until around noon each day - sometimes longer. At 9:35am, masked by the veil, we could hear the blows of returning Resident orcas heading south. The Skana on scene confirmed all A30s and A23s in the mix. Today, for the first time in a while, the groups did not go east to rub; they headed over to Vancouver Island and made their way west. Jared Towers, listening on the Telegraph Cove hydrophone, could hear them at 1:40pm. The A50s chose to head through Weynton Passage and into Blackfish Sound, while the A54s and A23s remained in the Strait. The two latter groups turned back to the east, and were just off the Wastell Islets before 2pm. The orcas were spread as they headed back to Cracroft Point, the A54s favoring the Vancouver Island shore as they often do. A60 alone was visible and audible off Cracroft Point between 3:30pm and 4pm. It is rare we can say ‘those calls belong to that one individual!’ - so this was a particularly exciting event. The A54s came for a longer rub at Kaizumi at 3:48pm, with some of the A23s joining in too. Some more frequent and excited calls from all parties tipped us off to their intention: Blackney-bound! They all moved over to Cracroft Point and then further to the Hanson shore, as the leading whales began to make their move into the pass by 6pm. They came in as a fairly large group altogether, with a few leading the way out in front. Once in Blackfish Sound, the A54s and A23s joined up with the A50s, who had been milling around Bold Head. Much to our delight, the whales decided to turn and come back! By 7:20pm we could see a few of the A54s in the pass, heading south this time. They were spread out and fairly far from us. The A23s came next, in a tight group mid-pass, and remained this way for the entire crossing. Eventually, the A54s formed another tight group, and followed the A23s towards Johnstone Strait. Parson Island was lit up with a beautiful golden glow by the sinking sun; a beautiful backdrop for this peaceful passing. But what of the A50s? Suzie’s prediction was: A50s will come last, close to Hanson, riding the back-eddy current. Bingo! At 8:16pm they came in, close to Burnt Point. On deck, we contained our excitement and maintained a respectful calm as they cruised by. There were no boats present for any of the groups’ time in Blackney, and the whales matched this lull with a silence of their own. Nevertheless, it was a magical evening - especially for new assistant Dori who was seeing her very first orcas on her first eve at the lab. The orcas all passed CP, A23s in the lead at 8:43pm, and they peeled off to the east. After some foraging in Robson Bight, a brief rub at Main was had at 11:20pm by the A54s and another slightly longer rub at Strider at 11:32pm. Just before midnight we could discern the A50s decision to come west as the others, the A54s and A23s, slipped off to the east. The mixed calls saw us through to midnight. 
OrcaLab
25 Aug 2022 14:18:53 PDT
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Wednesday, August 24, 2022




No calls but orcas nearby

August 23 2022 Orcas: A50s, A54s, A23s, ?T100s Humpbacks: Stitch, Quartz, Guardian, Black Pearl & Kraken Overnight, the A30s and A23s stayed in the Strait, their calls - faint and sporadic - bouncing between Kaizumi, Cracroft Point and the Ecological Reserve. At 4:36 we could hear them echoey in Robson Bight, as they foraged in the calmness of night. The early dawn brought some beautiful footage to our audience. As the bluey hues of the morning crept in around 6am, a few crescendoing calls at Strider alerted us to the whales’ presence. In the calm, glassy waters, we could see all of the whales in a tight group slowly approaching the beach. They were rolling and splashing gracefully, and glided by the beach as a group in one fell swoop. A few members stayed to rub some more until 6:30am, when all peeled off to the east and into the fog. They did not get too far, as by midday they were heading west again just past the eastern edge of the Reserve, still tight together as a group. They rubbed briefly at Main Beach on their way at 12:26pm, but Strider was to be the main event of the day. The leading whales made it to the beach at 12:31pm, and began a beautiful 45-minute rub. All members came in and there were lots of spyhops and rolls, tail slaps and milling at the surface. The tall fin of A60 (Fife) was easily recognizable towering above the rest. We also got a good look at A69 (Midsummer) and her young baby. Over twenty orcas in the mix - just fantastic! At 1:16pm they moved offshore, milled for a while, before continuing to the west and into Robson Bight at 1:42pm. The A30s sounded to be in the lead, with the A23s following. They foraged for a while, ever westing, and here the groups seemed to split a little. The A54s hugged the Vancouver Island shore, passing Kaizumi (but no rub) in a few separate groups from 2:27pm. The A50s and A23s, it seemed, moved more mid-strait and towards Cracroft Point. Megan and Shari could see distant blows and a sprouter (A84, Klaoitsis, perhaps) and we could hear mid-range A5 calls in the mix too. They didn’t spend long foraging here, and by 3:49pm all orcas were between Big Bay on Hanson Island ad Kaikash on Vancouver Island, spread out across Johnstone Strait and travelling west. From here, they rode the ebbing current north through Weynton Passage, looping round Hanson Island and back into Blackfish Sound by 6pm. At the same time, the T100s popped up in Blackney Pass and headed to the south. We could identify T100C, E and F. Naturally, we were getting close to dinner time and the Northern Residents were planning a visit into the pass! We loaded our plates with Helena’s delicious Mac n’ Cheese and trimmings, and headed onto the deck to wait for the whales. The A54s came in first at 6:38pm. They were very spread out and on the middle-to-far side of the pass, making it difficult to get a good look in the westerly chop. Also fighting a 3-knot ebb! The towering fin of A60 was visible next and, as they moved through, the A23s all bunched up together, mid-pass, and travelled as a family. The A75s (Cedar and her offspring) joined them as they passed Parson Island. True to form, the A50s came last at 7:45pm, close to the Hanson shore, riding the back-eddy current that worked in their favour. It was a lovely passing as the golden light illuminated islands across the pass. By 8pm the first whales were visible from Cracroft Point, and all followed the leaders into Johnstone Strait, where they began to cross over towards Kaizumi and to the east. By 9:40pm the leading whales had made it to Critical Point in Robson Bight - time for that midnight snack! - before all moved to the east. We heard mixed calls around the rubbing beaches from 10:15pm, and the whales made it as far as Main beach before turning their sights to the west again. No rubs this time, but all groups were still in each other’s company. They tracked towards Cracraft Point once more, and this day ended with excited A30 calls around midnight. Folk at the lab were once again delighted by the incredible bioluminescence in the water as the darkness fell. Bellies full and hearts happy, most of us settled into bed, while those of us on shift prepared for hours of listening and learning in the inky blackness of night. 
Suzie, OL
24 Aug 2022 14:30:35 PDT
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