Multiple pod calls audible. Summary for 24th T099s, A42, I15s Over the last few days we have had unfortunate trouble with our hydrophone at Critical Point - which leaves us acoustically in the dark down a huge stretch of Johnstone Strait and in Robson Bight. Nonetheless, we’ve continued to sleuth away: piecing together the orcas’ story as they traverse the waters of Hanson Island and beyond. At 11:05pm on the evening of the 23rd, we heard A5 calls Blackfish Sound - most likely the A42s who have been the only A5s around consistently for the past few weeks. These faint calls were soon joined by those of a humpback at 11:46pm. As the orca calls faded away, the humpback took center stage, fully breaking into song by 12:02am. This melody was interrupted at 12:45am by an unfortunately noisy tug boat, but began again when the ocean was still. After 1:45am the beautiful humpback vocalizations drifted off, and the next few hours were wrapped in a velvety silence to match the darkness. Shortly before the dawn, we heard G clan calls on Cracroft Point at 5:36am. These clear calls were joined by the A5s at 7:24am. At 8:04am, we received a report of orca in Johnstone Strait, westing in line with the Sophia Islands, but on the Vancouver Island coast. These groups of A5 and I15 orca were vocal until 9:35am, and seen from our Parson Rock camera. however, they remained foraging and vocalizing in the Strait rather than taking Blackney Pass north. At 11am we noticed black fins and blows in Blackney Pass, way over towards Parson Island, heading north. We had heard no calls - who were they? How long had they been there? As we were scrambling for our scopes and testing our zoom lenses at full reach, we noticed about twenty sea lions pass very close to the lab, rafted up and heading for their haul-out rock. This more infrequently-observed behaviour got us thinking - could there be Biggs in the area? Sure enough, when we caught a side profile of the distant orca now in east Blackney Pass, we noticed that their dorsals and movements were very Biggs-esque. Later on, these orca were ID’d as the T099s - thanks to Jared Towers. At 11:49 we had a rare treat: the Biggs vocalized on our Parson Island hydrophone! They continued to mill around east Blackney Pass off Cracroft Point for about an hour. Later that day at 2.56pm, we received a report from Chris on Ocean Magic II that these Biggs had made their way to Weynton Passage and were heading north, our last update for this group of orca. Whilst we were occupied with the Biggs, the A42s and I15s had continued west in the strait and entered Blackfish Sound, and we began hearing them on our Flower Island hydrophone at midday. At 1:43pm we saw the A42s enter Blackney Pass, heading south. At 2:15pm they became vocal on our local hydrophone and we had some lovely, clear calls. Midway through their passage they changed their minds and turned right right around, and headed north. We received a report from Jackie at 2:53pm that there were a group of orcas spread out at the Fosters Islands - which included at leas the I65s. Perhaps they had called the A42s back? Ah, the ever-mysterious world of the orca! We continued to hear the A42s for the afternoon (sadly, along with the noise from three cruise ships and lots of smaller craft), as they made their way through Blackfish Sound. By 5.30pm we were hearing them no more. The day was concluded just as it started: a vocalizing humpback in Blackfish Sound. From 8.30pm we heard the sporadic whoops and grunts, and he was even joined by some chattering Pacific White Sided dolphins off Cracroft Point at 9.30pm. Another day, another medley of splendid sounds from the sea.  Orcalab 26 Sep 2019 10:52:51 PDT