Superb sounds!! The lovely evening Humpback with orcas in the background. OrcaLab 09 Oct 2019 20:22:48 PST Summary for October 7 2019 A34s, A5s (A42s) We wished for clarity, and it was granted: both A5 and A34 calls broke through the silence of dawn just after 6m, around Cracroft Point. The two groups had reunited in Johnstone Strait. We lost them for a brief period from 7:20am to 9:22am as they went through Weynton Pass to Blackfish Sound. Distant and sporadic calls continued off Blackfish Sound until just after 10am, and at 10:42am we received a report that there were orcas spread out between Egeria Shoals and the Penfold Islands. A determined exit to the west? We hope not! Summary for October 8 2019 A34s, A42s, humpbacks! We were welcomed into the morning of the 8th with A34 calls on the Robson Bight hydrophone. These calls continued in and out all morning occasionally popping up on the Cracroft Point hydrophone as the A34s moved west in the Strait toward the Cracroft and Kaikash areas. Just after 11am we received a radio report of orcas westing at Kaikash Creek, and briefly thereafter we spotted some dorsal fins on the remote Cracroft Point camera with louder A34 calls continuing on the corresponding hydrophone. They left us in silence while we patiently awaited a visit from them in Blackney Pass - it had been days! Later that afternoon around 1:04pm we heard A1 (A34s) and A5 (A42s) calls on the Cracroft Point hydrophone. They had turned and were now eastbound once again! They began to echo to the Parson Island hydrophone which overlap the Cracroft Point hydrophone’s range, indicating that they were once again off the Blackney Pass entrance. The calls continued on the Parson Island hydrophone as the whales approached Blackney Pass and headed north. At 1:50pm Quin spotted the first two dorsal fins in Blackney Pass after 6 days without any passings! There had been previously a marked preference for the orcas to use Weynton Passage instead. Very excited orca calls continued on Parson Island and Cracroft Point and we assumed correctly that there were more just behind. As we watched the first two, A34 and A55, a second, and a closely following third group, entered our view from the lab at 2:15pm. The second group consisted of a mix of the A34s and the A42s, a mix of females, juveniles, and babies. 14 in total. This large group was followed by another adult male (A66) and sprouter, (possibly A80). Another sprouter (possibly A83 accompanied two smaller orcas. No calls were heard during the duration of the passing. Our photos confirmed that all of the A34s and the A42s had come through for this visit. After clearing BP at 2:42pm, departing (hopefully temporary) calls were heard briefly on the Flower Island hydrophone in Blackfish Sound roughly 10 minutes later. After a long pause, around 8:40pm, faint orca calls were heard on Cracroft Point. Could they have been slowly completing their circuit of Hanson Island? Once again through Weynton Pass? As the calls on Cracroft Point began to get close enough to echo to Parson Island, a humpback stepped in to steal the show at 9:30pm. While one humpback was calling between the CP (Cracroft Point) and Parson Island hydrophones, another was singing with him on the Critical Point (Robson Bight) system. Together they created some of the most incredible sonic landscapes for almost an hour! A fitting end to a quite marvelous day here at the Lab. No further calls were heard from the orca, and we patiently awaited their return to Blackney Pass.  OrcaLab 09 Oct 2019 18:14:13 PST