Multiple pod calls audible. Forgive our lateness for this summary of yesterday, we've had a very orca-filled morning here today! We’ll pick off from where we left it yesterday… At 8:00pm the night was not nearly over. The calls from the G clan whales continued distant on Critical Point until the early hours of the morning whilst briefly being interrupted by a singing humpback at Flower island around midnight. Just after the humpback stopped singing its beautiful song, the whales - who had made their way through Weynton Passage - began vocalising in Blackfish Sound at 12:43am. These melodic calls lasted into the early hours of the morning; before dwindling and finally sounding no more, just before 2.30am. After a spell of silence in the darkness, we heard calls at the rubbing beach at 7.08am. Both some A5s and G clan calls were present, and Alicia spotted three whales on the rubbing beach camera and then again in Robson Bight. They were milling around on the Cracroft Island side. At 8.45am we received a report from AJ at Farewell Harbour that the whales were moving west on the Cracroft shoreline at Forward Bay. This coincided nicely with consistent but distant calls in the Johnstone Strait until 10am. At 10:27am, the calls moved onto Cracroft Point, located at the southern entrance to Blackney Pass. The G clan were steadily louder; with the A5s remaining more distant. By 10:45am, the leading whales had made it to the entrance of Blackney Pass and we all gathered on the deck, anticipating their passage to the north. Clear “pings” were heard on our Parson Island hydrophone, so we made a fair assumption that the leading whales were members of the I35s that had been sighted the day before. (The I15s do attempt “pings”; but they are not quite as pronounced!) The whales moved through slowly in three groupings, but made no sound as they traversed our view. The A5 calls were ever-present on Cracroft Point until, at last, they too headed north through Blackney Pass at 11.03am. At 11:32am we heard clear echolocation on the Flower Island hydrophone, located in Blackfish Sound. Their lovely, clear calls - the I15s, I35s and the A42s - continued in the sound until just after 1pm, and the last call was heard at 1:39pm. We later received a report at 3:12pm from the Mayumi that the orca had made their way into the Johnstone Strait and were traveling east close to the Hanson Island shoreline. We confirmed this acoustically as we heard their calls on Cracroft Point around the same time. A little later at 4:06pm, Farewell Harbour reported orca traveling north into Blackney Pass by Parson Island. We had heard nothing over the hydrophones, but quickly located the whales as they moved into our view. They had circumnavigated Hanson Island in the space of five hours! Members of the I15s and A42s were identified; spread out in several groups. They had cleared our view and continued on their way into Blackfish Sound by 4:25pm. We continued to hear G clan and A5 calls in the sound for a while until they dropped off yet again around 5:35pm. After another spell of silence, it became clear that they had once again moved south through Wenyton and back into the Johnstone Strait - as at 18:14pm we picked up their vocals distant on Cracroft Point. They certainly are giving us the runaround - literally! Very faint G Clan and A5 calls were distant and sporadic as the sun began to set, and another day at the lab drew to a close. We are unsure as to whether all the members of the I15s and I35s were still here, although acoustically it sounded like they were. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. Orcalab 22 Sep 2019 15:16:22 PDT