ummary for September 25th AND 26th A42s,I4s,I16S, I27s,I65s,I35s The Pacific White-sided dolphins and humpbacks continued to call throughout the night both off Cracroft Point and in Blackfish Sound respectively. We heard the last of the humpback’s song at 5:40am, as the day prepared to break. At 7.37am we heard the first orca of the day - some I15 trills at Cracroft Point. A couple of minutes later the A5s joined them, and by 7.56am they were making their way north into Blackney Pass. We identified the I65s followed by possibly the I35s and I27s, then by the A42s who were mid channel as were the I4s, and finally the I16s at the rear. These are groups we have had over the past few weeks, together in one passing! By 8:51am they had cleared our view, and we continued to hear all A5, and I15 calls in Blackfish Sound until 11:40am. Just before the orcas passed, we also had a humpback in our view continuously breaching and tail & pec slapping north through Blackney Pass. A very busy start to the day! By midday, the leading groups of I15s had made it around Hanson Island and back to Blackney Pass. At 12:34pm A42 calls were in the mix The orcas milled and foraged in the entrance to Blackney Pass, before passing by our lab once again at 1:48pm. The passing was much quicker, lasting just shy of half an hour. We identified the I65s, then the A42s followed by the I4s, I27s with the I16s once again at the rear. At 2.23pm, shortly after the orcas cleared, we were watching another ‘playful’ humpback outside of the lab. Jackie Hildering was on the scene and confirmed that this whale was “Pepper” - an individual who had been seen around Campbell River recently and who had travelled here with two other “Campbell River” humpbacks. The I15s and A42s remained vocal in Blackfish Sound until just before 3.30pm, and at 5:37pm we received a report that they had gone through Weynton Passage and were now, once again, heading east in the Strait. Would they pass by the lab a third time in one day? Yes, they would! They arrived unannounced in Blackney Pass at 6:12pm, and zoomed past our view to the north. They were gone within just ten minutes. Three circumnavigations of Hanson Island in one day… perhaps they hold their own version of the Alert Bay 360? We noticed that there were much fewer orca than the previous two passings, and identified only members of the I4s and A42s. No calls whatsoever, just black fins streaking through Blackney. We heard some fleeting A5 calls in Blackfish Sound at 8:40pm, so likely at least the A42s had milled around. There were no more orca calls that evening and, in fact, no cetaceans were heard for the rest of the night. We awoke on the morning of the 26th with mixed feelings. It was a beautiful calm, clear sunrise but two of our number - Karien and Alicia - were leaving. Goodbyes are often difficult, but when you are brought together by a place so special you can be content in the knowledge that farewells are only “until next time, friend”. About twenty minutes after they had left, at 8:41am we began to hear A5 calls in Blackfish Sound, joined by the I15s shortly after, at 8:48am. Their calls were sporadic, and they entered our view in Blackney Pass at 9:10am. There was a lot of swell and they were very spread out so IDs were difficult; but due to the calls we knew that we had the A42s, including A66, with us. As we only had this one male, and there were only around ten whales in total, we think it was perhaps the I65s with them as they passed. They continued south and milled/foraged off Cracroft Point for the remainder of the afternoon, until just after 4pm. Interestingly, at 3:10pm, we heard some distant but clear calls. They did not sound like I15 so could have belonged to the I35s, but we’ve not seen nor heard anything from them since. The rest of the day was quiet, and we enjoyed the surprising September sunshine with a snorkel in our bull kelp patch. We heard some very distant G calls in Blackfish Sound and off Cracroft Point, between 7 and 7:15pm - so the groups had spread over the course of the afternoon. The rest of the evening was unusually quiet - not even a humpback song. We do however, always have the familiar belches and grunts of Steller Sea Lions hauled out on their favourite rocks. OrcaLab 27 Sep 2019 20:41:35 PDT