Hi again!
Last Wednesday, some transients were spotted, but they didn’t travel through Blackfish Sound or Blackney Pass. Fiona showed me how to record, use the mixer and write down what’s going on in the recording. I also learned how to do voice notes, where I am recorded and saying the status - talking about the calls and all of the settings on the mixer.
Helena went to town and took my money with her. I gave her my grocery list and she bought me some more snacks. Important stuff here, haha!
All of the people arrived. There are now 5 in total. Sam from Ontario, Olivier and Nolwenn from France, Chris from Australia, and Momoko from Japan. They are all awesome people and we get along great!
But the best update of all is: I saw orcas. We spotted the A36’s (A37 and A46, to be exact) and A12. They were on the other side of Blackney, but I still could see the A36’s towering dorsal fins. When I looked in the scope, I could see every detail...they were beautiful. The A36’s are known for their silence, but they became very chatty once they reached the Johnstone Strait. This was their destination, so they were excited. They even stopped at the rubbing beach, which you could hear on the hydrophone as they rubbed themselves along on the smooth pebbles!
We saw them again the following day, and then they were gone, now 50 miles away.
A couple of days ago, we heard calls from the A5’s, A4’s and A11’s. They were traveling together in a group of around 10. Springer was one of those whales! If you don’t know who she is, look her up. They were extremely vocal, and it was the cutest and most wonderful sound. They have now joined the A36’s and A12 at their final destination, many miles away. It seems as though the whales have all decided it was time to come to their summer and fall home.
We spotted A46, A37 and A12 again on Friday, and they have now joined up again with the others and are going further east. There’s another large group of orcas from several pods up just a tiny bit further north, so we’re hoping they’ll make their way down to join the rest.
Hopefully we’ll spot some more soon!
We all rotate on shifts of when to listen and watch for whales. We are with a partner (at the moment, mine’s Chris) and we take turns watching outside for the whales and listening inside on the headphones for the whales. My current shift is 9-12pm and 9-12am.
Every day has been an adventure, and I have finally gotten into a good pattern. Hanson Island feels more like home than ever. My tent has been awesome, but cold! The silly ravens wake me up every morning, though. “BAHHH! BAH BAH BAHHHH!” I have to try and block their very loud calls so I can go back to sleep.
I have seen many more humpback sightings, a glimpse of a Minke whale and a sighting today of one in front of the lab, hundreds of Pacific White-sided Dolphins, dozens of Dall’s porpoises, several Steller’s sea lions, and several minks. I’ve also seen their (summer) resident Steller’s jay, Velvet. I still find it hard to believe that I am seeing all of these animals every day...what a dream come true.
This trip has been amazing and very different so far than any other thing I’ve done. I’m enjoying every moment of it. I’m still counting the days down until I go home (26 - less than a month! Where have the days gone?), but I am not nearly as homesick as I have been. We have been busy, busy, busy. And will probably be much busier soon.
I guess that’s most of the update! I’ll update again as soon as I can.
Emily
