Update 3

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

Update 2

Well, still no orcas.

For the most part, it’s been cloudy and rainy. Today was the first day in several that the sun came out. We rearranged the fire pit outside and soaked up the sun, and then I waded in the cold water of the little bay.

Bathing on Hanson Island is an experience, to say the least. Currently there is no shower up and running, so you must use the outside bathtub. The bathtub is situated on the rocks, with a good view of Blackfish Sound and an awesome view of the bay when it’s high tide. You must first take the hose and put a sock over it so that any dirt in the water is captured - this water is unfiltered and comes from the stream. You must let it trickle out, which takes a good 3-4 hours to fill the tub. Then you must light a fire beneath the tub so that the water is nice and hot. It was way too hot for me at first, so I had to add two buckets of cold water before I could get in. You must wash before you get in the tub, because the water in the tub is used by other people as well. You have to sit on a wooden plank when you get in the tub or else your butt will be nice and burnt.

Animal-wise, I’ve seen several more Humpbacks, as well as Dall’s porpoise and Harbor porpoise. I have seen plenty of the local Harbor seals at dusk and dawn. Also saw three Stellar’s Sea Lions! They were huge, and were very cool.

A couple of days ago, I was waiting to help Melanie bring in chopped wood, and I heard a small “whoosh” - I looked, but saw nothing, not even in the distance. I shrugged it off, thinking I heard something in the wind. Then I heard it again, a minute later - still nothing. Finally I walked up the deck a little. I heard the ‘whoosh!’ again, and there it was - a Minke whale, right in front of the lab! It couldn’t have been more than 50 feet in front of it. I saw it’s distinctive tall dorsal, and it was small - the size of an orca. They are small but beautiful baleen whales. I ran up the deck (no camera, of course...) and watched it turn and head mid-channel. It surfaced twice before disappearing. What a cool experience!

Melanie is leaving tomorrow and Helena is heading to a meeting, so I will be alone with Fiona on the island for a day. I can’t wait to get into town, I’m in need of snack foods and clean clothes! (And my books, too. Been boring at night without that entertainment.)

Other than that, not much has gone on. It’s still been fun, of course. I just can’t wait for the orcas to show up.

Until next time,

Emily

Update 1

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the long delay in blogging. There is limited bandwidth here so I can only get online occasionally.

It’s been busy, busy, busy here. No northern residents yet, but there are signs that they are on their way down from up north. A few southern residents (orcas who live around the San Juan Islands) were spotted here in Blackfish Sound by Melanie earlier in the day that we arrived at Hanson. Unfortunately I never saw them, but I did hear some vocalizations and echolocation from the hydrophone speakers set up in Helena and Paul’s house in Alert Bay. That was really cool, and only a taste of what’s to come.

On the way to the island, we spotted some Dall’s porpoises riding in the waves caused by a larger boat. They passed right by us. Very cool!

I have seen plenty of Humpback whales. They lazily cruise by in Blackfish Sound, diving to feed. Over the past few days, I’ve spotted about 11 whales. This morning, I was cleaning some deck chairs out at the guest house and I suddenly heard a powerful “WHOOSH!” - I said aloud to myself, “Oh!!! Humpback!” I looked up and saw a cloud of mist, followed by another cloud of mist and another loud “whoosh”. This humpback was cruising along, and finally it decided to dive down for more fish. Later in the day I heard and saw another, and then just a couple of hours ago a mother and a relatively new calf passed by. The calf was very rambunctious; it breached twice! I also saw lob tailing by another calf a couple of days ago.

I’ve also seen my first Mink - apparently they like to take residence under the bathhouse. They feed on shellfish and fish here.

Hummingbirds are plentiful around here. Just this morning a young one allowed me to come relatively close to it and take it’s picture. I walk around outside and hear that familiar humming and immediately know it’s a hummingbird and not another bee. They are very cute little birds, and they have a very small chirp.

There is a pair of ravens that live in the evergreens by the house. They sure are talkative! They must have had chicks because there are four of them right now.

Bald eagles are here as well. There is a skeletal tree that towers over others in the distance and I’ve spotted one that perches on a branch there all the time. Their cries are beautiful!

It amazes me how out of the way it is here. Until the bathhouse is cleared out and set up, I have to wash my hair in a bucket. Water must be purified before it can be drank because it comes straight from the stream here. At first it’s hard to handle - coming from civilization and jumping into the wild. I’m not in my tent yet; I’m temporarily housed upstairs in the lab. I have to go up a ladder and through a trapdoor to get to my bunk. It has an amazing view of Blackfish Sound. I’ve spotted several harbor seals just while I was sitting up there.

I’ve mostly been helping Helena clean up since my arrival on the island. We’ve cleaned out the lab, gone through all of her books, and organized the guest house. It’s necessary work that needs to be done before the other assistants arrive. I’ve heard from Helena that people from France and Japan will be here. That should be interesting!

It’s been very pleasant here. I love just sitting on the deck in the sun and reading my book. Not much to complain about here! The only thing that bothered me were the very large red/purple bald spiders in my bunk area. Gross!

I guess that’s all for now. Keep your fingers crossed that orcas arrive soon!

Emily

P.S. I won’t be able to post pictures when I post because of the bandwidth issues. I’ll be sure to upload them all onto Flickr once I return home and will post a link for your viewing pleasure. :)

P.P.S. You can listen to the same thing I am via Orca Live. :)

P.P.P.S. You should check out Paul’s blog. He’s busy with a meeting for the International Whaling Commission (IWC) because it is a pivotal year - commercial whaling might be allowed if decided. They say that whale oil could be used for “eco-friendly” things, as food for fish farms, for make up, among many other ridiculous things. If whaling is allowed, this would be bad news for whales - especially after all of the hard work put in to saving them and getting their numbers back to a reasonable level. There might need to be another “Save the whales!” movement in the future...

Most people probably know what I'm doing and why I'm posting this blog. If you don't, I'll go ahead and explain.

For seven weeks, I am going to be participating in an internship with Orcalab, where I will be camping on Hanson Island and studying orcas, or killer whales. The primary research done by Orcalab is on the killer whale's vocalizations. I leave June 15th and return home on August 7th. This blog will be a sort of diary, which I will update whenever I can. This is a way for me to share my experiences with the people I know.

I leave in less than two days. Whoa.

I'll update as soon as possible!