vrijdag 14 oktober 2005

14 October 2005, Orcalab reports

The offshores were last seen near Port Hardy. Graeme Ellis of DFO was up in the area and had the day & good conditions to get the ID photos. Very exciting.
Helena
14 Oct 2005 09:34:33 PDT

donderdag 13 oktober 2005

13 October 2005, Orcalab reports

Boat noise

We began hearing distant calls, amidst boat noise, on the Critical Point hydrophone, about 45' ago, but are uncertain as to whether they were from resident or offshore orcas. After travelling rapidly to the east last evening, the offshores returned to the west, and were near Robson Bight around 1am. By 9am they were off Pearse Passage, near Alert Bay. They were still in that general area around 10:30am, when we heard calls that could have been from G clan or offshore orcas. Boat noise has been very persistent since then, and we've heard no more calls. We are waiting.
Paul
13 Oct 2005 11:24:21 PDT

Orcas near mics.

A short while ago we started to hear the A12s on Flower Island. Earlier this morning we must have been listening to the Offshores when they were stalled off Alert Bay. This is normally out of our range but every so often we experience extended coverage. The offshores are now off Port McNeill still west bound.
Helena
13 Oct 2005 13:43:11 PDT

woensdag 12 oktober 2005

12 October 2005, Orcalab reports:

Superb sounds!!

This is exciting! We had received reports around 3:30pm of a large group of whales moving through Pearse Passage (between Alert Bay and Pearse Islands) headed for the Strait. We had been listening to the A12s,A36s and various G groups all morning and when they headed off to the west we thought that they might be going to meet the incoming group. As the new group moved east in the Strait we started to understand that they were Offshores. The northern residents have been very quiet - listening too no doubt. The weather is very wet and quite dark. The boat noise is not making it very easy either.
Helena
12 Oct 2005 16:40:05 PDT

Superb sounds!!

The offshore calls are getting stronger as they move closer toward the Bight.
Helena
12 Oct 2005 18:29:24 PDT

No orcas present.

All quiet now. The big question in all of our minds is what happened to the northern residents? They must have "crossed" paths with the offshores at some point. They ceertainly must have heard them on Flower Island when off the entrance of Blackney Pass and then later as the offshores came east into the Strait. So did the residents go out Weynton Passage to avoid the incoming group? We believe the offshores continued to the east.
Helena
12 Oct 2005 23:16:36 PDT