No orcas present. WHAT an exciting day! We received an early morning report from Kate at Bere Point that there were a group of about 8 orcas right off the north shore of Malcom Island, heading east in Queen Charlotte Strait - and they looked like resident orcas. We started filtering through our ID book, trying to figure out who the group(s) could be with the ID information we had been given - two males and one open saddle patch. Nothing was quite adding up, when we received a further report which totally blew us away... Jared Towers was on scene and had identified them as K Pod - Southern Resident orcas! We couldn't believe it, but better yet - they were headed right towards us, now just at Dong Chong Bay on Hanson Island at 11:55am, headed into Blackney Passage. Southern Residents headed right towards us! The next half an hour seemed to last a lifetime as we waited, but our patience finally paid off as the first fins came into view. They were spread out, mid-passage, moving swiftly with the flood current. This was the first time we have had resident orcas on our cameras this season - let alone southern resident orcas! - so it was really exciting to track their movements through our range and share it with you, our followers and Explore.org community. Thanks for tuning in! They cleared into Johnstone Strait at around 12:50pm and we continued to watch them on our remote cameras. We also heard some faint whistles and clicks as they were off CP which were very likely coming from K Pod; but no distinct calls. We last saw them all the way east on Rubbing Beach cam at 2:39pm, where we assume they carried on their way south - towards their traditional feeding grounds around south Vancouver Island & the San Juan Islands (although who knows where they will end up...). Thanks to everyone involved in the day. Most of the reports came from onlookers from land, which is a real testament to the power of this community. Many thanks to Jared Towers for confirming the identity of the 10 members of K Pod - the K12s and K13s - and his encouraging observation that they made at least one successful kill and shared the winnings. This is especially important for the Southern Resident orcas, listed as a Critically Endangered population due to scarcity of food. Not the resident arrival we were expecting to start this 2020 season, but a very welcome arrival indeed! OrcaLab 29 Jun 2020 21:31:05 PDT No calls but orcas nearby Exciting news: We just received a report from Jared Towers that Southern Resident orca, K Pod are in Blackfish sound and heading south towards Blackney Pass. We are eagerly watching and listening for their arrival on explores basecam. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base A very excited Megan, Quin and Suzie!!!!!!! 29 Jun 2020 12:09:58 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby Another drizzly start to the morning was made all the more pleasant by two humpbacks - Stitch and Guardian - hanging near Parson's Bay at 7.05am. At 10.26am we received a report from Alexandra Morton that there were a group of orcas between Stubb's Island and Donegal Head, just out of view of the lab in Blackfish Sound. Incidentally, Megan was on her way to Alert Bay at the time and when she received the report, she cut the engine and waited... and waited... Fins on the horizon! She finally saw the anticipated group of orcas, who made their way past her and towards Weynton Passage. It is not often that we see orcas on our journeys into town, but when we do our lab instincts swiftly kick in. Megan captured some beautiful images of all members of the group so we could ID them, and watched their movements to relay to Jared Towers who was just entering the scene. Jared later confirmed that this was the T069As plus the large male T011A - a male who we have seen traveling solo over the past couple of weeks. So interesting are the lives of Bigg's orcas! We have still not seen nor heard any Northern Resident orcas this season, but we anticipate that their arrival is just around the corner... OrcaLab 26 Jun 2020 20:54:14 PDT

This afternoon we had three different Humpbacks travel through Blackney Pass. As usual our neighbour Guardian was pacing back and forth. First seen around 14:00 and is still here now at 19:30pm. Stitch and Quartz also traveled north towards Blackfish Sound around 15:30pm. At 18:50 Dylan reported seeing one male orca heading north west in the Johnstone Strait towards Weynton passage. We wonder if it could be T011A again who was spotted yesterday by Alex Morton. A beautiful and calm sunny day today here in Blackney pass which was much needed for our solar panels and our garden after 3 solid days of rain!  Orcalab 25 Jun 2020 20:15:21 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby We had a report at 10:11am this morning from Alex Morton that there was one male Orca heading from Donegal head to Stubbs Island. The whale was later confirmed as T011A. Thanks for the report Alex!  Orcalab  24 Jun 2020 15:32:29 PDT This morning around 8am we had a seriously close encounter with Humpbacks Guardian and Ojos Blancos also known as White Eyes. We first heard them surface around Burnt point and they couldn't not have been more than 10 meters away from the waters edge. With it being low tide we couldn't believe how close they were. The pair inspected the bay between the lab and Kurt's point and then disappeared around it out of our sight. After inspecting that bay the pair made their way back past us stopping off on Yashi's beach just to check that out surfacing inches from our mored boat Sonic. Guardian rolled around a few times not in a hurry to move along until Ojos made his or hers way back around Burnt Point. Friend of Orcalab, handy electrician and wildlife guid AJ once taught me (Megan) one of his favourite activities when he is out on the water in his little boat in which he explores as close to the shoreline around all the little nooks and bays of one island until he knows it like the back of his hand. He calls this "Gunkholing". I do believe that this morning Guardian and Ojos Blancos were in fact... GUNKHOLING around Orclab! Thanks for the memories you beautiful whales, Here is a few photos from the encounter!  Megan  24 Jun 2020 15:25:41 PDT

Yesterday afternoon we had a lovely encounter around 4:00pm with four humpback whales in Blackney Pass. KC was first spotted heading north. Then shortly after this three whales appeared traveling very close together. We initially identified two out of three of the whales as Stitch and Guardian. Later with the help of Jackie Hildering of the Marine education and research society the last whale was identified as Quartz who is another regular to Blackney Pass. Our new lab camera the Canon 90D along with the amazing Sigma 150-600mm lens has allowed us to identify so many more humpbacks from land to which we are incredibly grateful for. Orcalab  22 Jun 2020 13:19:40 PDT

There are 3 Humpback whales traveling together in Blackney Pass. Watch it live on Explore.org! https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab 21 Jun 2020 17:03:48 PDT

We have a Humpback pec slapping in blackney Pass in the beautiful evening light. Watch live on Explore. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Megan Quin and Suzie  15 Jun 2020 18:04:08 PDT We have a Humpback pec slapping in blackney Pass in the beautiful evening light. Watch live on Explore. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orclaab  15 Jun 2020 18:03:19 PDT

At around 19:14pm this evening Quin spotted a lone male Orca heading north in Blackney Pass. The whale slowly made it's way into Blackfish sound as we lost him out of our sight at around 19:30pm. We heard no calls and saw no other whales during this encounter. We sent the photos off to Jared Towers and he thought it could possibly be T011A but couldn't be sure with the whales being quite a distance from our shoreline.  Orcalab 10 Jun 2020 20:43:34 PDT There is a single male orca heading North in Blackney Pass. Check it out on our Base Cam! https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab 10 Jun 2020 19:18:44 PDT

There are a couple of humpbacks swimming in the tide rip on OrcaLab Base cam! Tune in at https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab 07 Jun 2020 11:42:20 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby To round up this afternoons events. At around 02:30pm I spotted some splashing out in Blackney Pass close to the Parson Island shoreline. Sure enough after looking through the scope I spotted a huge black fin rising out of the water and shortly after I witnessed a smaller whale launch its entire body out of the water. I started a recording and ran out to the deck to take photos as Helena operated the camera. I made an assumption early on that it was Bigg's orca as opposed to Residents just through the behaviour it looked as if they were hunting something. Perhaps a sea-lion or a porpoise. They were so far away it was hard to tell. They continued on their hunt for around ten minuets. At around 02:45pm they took a deep dive whilst heading south along the waters edge of Parsons Island. We feared we had lost them entirely after about 30 minuets of searching on all our camera systems but Jared Towers who had come out in the research boat The Merlin came to our rescue and spotted them heading into Baronet Passage along the Cracroft Island shoreline at 03:32pm. He quickly identified them as the T090's. We followed them on the camera in the distance as they headed down Baronet and we believe they and Jared are still there. Unfortunately there were no calls on the recording but we did manage to get a few nice moments on our base cam live on explore. You can scroll back to watch between 02:30pm and 02:45pm. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Megan 04 Jun 2020 17:04:09 PDT No calls but orcas nearby We have a group of Biggs hunting in Blackney Pass around 2nd bay. No calls yet. Watch live on the explore base cam here. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Megan 04 Jun 2020 14:38:11 PDT

Guardian is back this morning continuing with the acrobatics of last night. There is one other whale who we cant get an ID of yet. Watch live on Base cam with explore.org https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Megan  03 Jun 2020 09:42:36 PDT

Wow what an evening with Humpbacks. We think 5 in total today. First off we had Ojos Blancos at 02:00pm heading south. Then much later at around 08:00pm I spotted Nova heading south on her own. Shortly after I spotted Squiggle further away also heading south. At around 08:14pm two more whales appeared to be traveling alongside Nova this time in the opposite direction, heading north. I immediately recognized our dear friend Guardian who has been seen several times with the young whale Nova so far this year. the other whale i initially thought could be Ojos Blancos but Jackie later considered it could also have been bumpy... Time will tell with further investigation. At around 09:00pm things got very exciting when Guardian started peck slapping followed by Nova making multiple acrobatic breaches in the glorious last moments of the days light as they all headed south towards Cracroft Point. This continued on till I lost the light. Whilst I was out on the deck taking photos, Helena was busy monitoring the explore cameras from back in Alert Bay so if you scroll back on base cam to around 09:00pm you should be able to catch a glimpse of the show! A big thanks also to Jackie Hildering in Port Macneill from MERS for the extra help at the end of the day identifying all of these whales! All in all a wonderful team effort monitoring Blackney Pass for these lovely moment as summer begins.  Megan  02 Jun 2020 22:26:20 PDT We currently have three Humpbacks, Nova, Ojos Blancos and Guardian here in Blackney Pass. You can watch them live now and scroll back on Explore to watch more. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Megan  02 Jun 2020 20:50:41 PDT