Orcas vocalize while going about their various activities. The clicks you hear are the sounds Orcas use to echo-locate (search) for food and other underwater objects. The other sounds are calls that the whales use to communicate with each other.
The forehead (or melon of an Orca) is used to generate the wide variety of sounds the whale is capable of producing. Sounds are generated when the whale forces air in and out of the complex network of passages and cavities in the melon. You can learn more about and hear samples of echolocation and vocalizations provided on our own website (click to hear), and you may also download the file.
Resident, transient, and offshore Orcas have very different vocabularies. Both the sound of the calls and the number of calls vary substantially from population to population.
Transient Orcas vocalize significantly less than residents because they normally don't use sound while foraging for food. Residents will send out calls to other residents and use sonar clicks to locate their prey. Transients, on the other hand, usually hunt silently, listening and looking for their prey. It is speculated that the reason for this is that the dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions that constitute the transients primary prey could recognize transient calls and thereby rob the transients of the advantage of surprise. Transients normally begin to vocalize during or after an attack.
So, enjoy the following clips:
RESIDENTS:
OFF-SHORES:
Off-shores in Johnstone Strait.
a 'marine mammal guide' is available on-line for more detailed information about some of the local marine mammals in our area.