Wednesday, August 17, 2005

17 August Orcalab reports:

05:05 PDT Orcas hunting fish.
Good morning everyone! We began hearing echolocation & calls close to the Critical Point hydrophone about 4:30am... sounds like the A30s have returned from the east & are having a bite in the Bight!

05:36 PDT Distant calls audible.
The calls of the A30s have been getting distant on the Critical point hydrophone - sounds like they are making their way to the west quickly. We've also been hearing distant "B subclan" calls on CrPt & think that the Bs may also be returning from the east, probably on the Cracroft Island side of Johnstone Strait.

06:47 Distant calls audible.
The calls are now getting distant on the CP hydrophone... sounds like the A30s & Bs are moving to the west in Johnstone Strait, though not far from Blackney Pass. The tide is ebbing swiftly, so it's possible they will decide to head north through Blackney.

07:42 PDT No calls but orcas nearby
We've heard no calls for the past while, but think the A30s & Bs are not too far away... perhaps towards the western end of Johnstone Strait, or heading "out" via Weynton Pass.

10:05 PDT No orcas present.
We are not sure where the A30s ended up but the Bs were seen off the Pearse Islands, Johnstone Strait side, at around 8am after coming west from the Bight. Right now they are in Weynton Passage heading back to the Strait so it is unclear what loop they took to get there.

10:12 PDT No orcas present.
A bit more information: Stubbs island Whale Watching just told us that the Bs went around the Pearse Island group back into Weynton passage. Currently they are just about to enter the Strait but are silent at the moment. Pacific Northwest Kayaking, whjo are camped near Kaikash Creek saw both the bs and the A30s pass at 7am headed west. The Bs kept going but the A30s turned a little bit further to the west of their camp and returned to the east. This might explain why their call got louder for a while before we lost track of them acoustically. Very foggy early this morning but visiblity quite good now.

17:34 PDT Orcas near mics.
Sounds like the A30s have come west to the Bight. The Bs kept going toward Pulteney Point.

19:12 PDT Distant calls audible.
CP reports that the A30s turned back to the east at the east end of Kaikash.

23:19 PDT Distant calls audible.
After beautiful Transient calls, we started hearing A30 calls on CRPT hydrophone.

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