July 13 2020: A50s, A54s, A23s, ?A25s, A24s, I12s Today was one of those extraordinary days which really defy description. It was a totally engrossing experience from the first calls heard at around 4:20 am to the early evening. What unfolded was no less than an amazing ride. Let’s start at the beginning. Our habit these days, with the limited person power due to Covid, is to start a recording around 10pm and assign 2 hour shifts where there is an understanding who is responsible for responding to any calls. We knew from Jared Towers the day before that the A23s, A25s, and A30s were headed east from Port Hardy where they had spent the day foraging so we had a feeling that this night’s sleep would likely be interrupted. Sure enough Megan whose “shift” was 4-6 am woke with a start to the distinctive calls of the As. The calls were on Flower Island’s new ICListen hydrophone. This meant that the whales were still somewhere to the west of the Lab. Our assistants, Tomoko and Momoko in Japan likewise heard the calls on OrcaLive and the WhatsAPP chat line was soon buzzing with excitement. Other assistants, unable to come to Canada because of Covid soon followed suit. It felt like everyone was with the rest of us in the Lab. Of course, even though it was Megan’s “shift”, everyone had gotten up, including Suzie who was convinced it was actually her shift and not Megan’s! It was early after all. Janie went off to make coffee and soon we were all listening, taking notes and delighting in the clarity of the calls on the new hydrophone. It was beautiful! The day was just beginning, the dawn light was emerging over the hills across Blackney Pass, the ocean was quiet. No boats! Just whales! We felt pretty good. After it got light we contacted Alex Morton and Jared Towers. Alex has a wonderful prospect overlooking Queen Charlotte Strait and the western end of Blackfish Sound. As we trained our eyes on the distant horizon of Blackfish Sound via one of our remote cameras we too could see fins crossing Blackfish Sound. At 6:32am, Alex was able to report that some of the whales were in fact heading west back into Queen Charlotte Strait and headed toward Lizard Point. One group, she said, was headed to Stubbs Island. All the while the calls were still amazing. We were hearing further and better than ever before. We could hear whistles, echo location and those wonderful calls. So clear. With Helena inside the Lab listening and making notes about the calls, and Megan and Janie outside doing scans and watching Blackney Pass there was a sudden simultaneous jump of surprise at 5:49am when it was realized there were G clan calls in the mix of calls as well. Helena surmised that some of the I11s must be present. What we could not immediately determine was whether we were listening to the A24s, or the A73s, or perhaps both. The calls of this A4 family were clear enough to suggest that someone from that family was present but not exactly who. Springer (A73), who is of that family (her Granny was A24), had been around previously but does not often travel with her natal group. Meanwhile Jared Towers caught up with the orcas around 8:30am. By then the I12s (from the I11 family) and the A24s were approaching Lizard Point. Springer was not mentioned. As they headed further into Queen Charlotte Strait we continued to listen to mainly the A30s who remained closer to Donegal Head. By 10am, Jared reported that the A54s (A30s) were generally headed east from Donegal. Megan and Suzie went off for a dive that they had planned for previously and everybody else took advantage of the lull in activity to do a few other things. By 11:50am orcas were in Blackney Pass headed south! The local hydrophone is still out of commission so the whales had the jump on us but we soon got the remote video camera and still camera zoomed in on the small groups of two or three travelling determinedly southward. Fife was in the lead. Eventually we picked up their calls on the Parson Island hydrophone and then the Cracroft Point as they cleared into Johnstone Strait. From there the whales went east. Our next surprise of the day was when we tuned into the new hydrophone situated at Kazumi Beach at 1:19pm. Kaizumi gets its name because the beach there is half way along the Vancouver Island shore from Kaikash Creek and Izumi Rock just west of the Ecological Reserve. Despite its small size orcas love to rub at this beach and it was again amazing to tune into their activity there for the first time. Quin was busy all day introducing the new camera and hydrophone features into the OrcaLab systems. A huge challenge. The whales (the A30s and A5s) carried our attention all the way to the Ecological Reserve by 2pm. As some of the A30s (we suspected the A50s) remained in the Bight to forage, others headed to Strider and Main Rubbing Beaches. It was now 2:50pm. The remote camera and hydrophone at Strider are also new. The orca activity, at first, was not available to the explore.org audience but Quin later remedied this. Suzie and Megan had by this time arrived back from their dive. Suzie took control of the remote camera and quickly learned how operate the new camera. Janie managed the other remote camera and kept an eye on the Main Beach and Robson Bight. Helena wrote notes. It was intense to say the least. The whales stayed at Strider for a long, long time, rubbing, milling, resting and even foraging, calling. At one point the whales became collectively excited about something and there was an outburst of bizarre calls at 3:26pm. A breakaway group headed to the Main Rubbing beach and after skimming over the pebbles continued to the east. All the while, some of the A30s remained in Robson Bight. The Wardens, based on the Cliff opposite, informed us at 4:06pm, that they could see at least seven orcas engaged in foraging and spread out across the Bight. It was now 4pm and we had all been up and tracking the whales for 12 hours but you would never have sensed that anyone was flagging. The excitement was infectious and everyone’s energy remained focused helped along by the afternoon coffee Megan served. After a while, the whales generally began a turn to the west. The whales who had travelled east of the Reserve returned and passed through the Main and Strider beaches in succession. The Wardens informed us again that a group was westing on the Cracroft side and passing Boat Bay opposite the Beaches. It was now 7pm. Earlier some of the A5s had taken this shore to go east. We had heard only a few distant A5 calls throughout the afternoon and suspected that they had remained closer to that side while the A30s enjoyed the Bight and the Beaches. By this time, Helena and Paul had to leave for Alert Bay, and by the time they got there, and had unpacked the boat, the whales were definitely travelling west. Close to Cracroft Point, the whales turned the “corner” into Blackney Pass at 8:13pm and headed north past the Lab once again. A60 (Fife) was in the lead once more followed by the A50s, A54s and the rest of the A23s. They cleared into Blackfish Sound at 8:46pm. Calls continued to 9:15pm. Full circle. Their intentions will hopefully be revealed over the next while. Quite the day! For Paul immensely satisfying. He had hoped for years to realize a camera at Strider beach, ever since he had become aware that the whales had shifted the preferences from Main to Strider suspecting that the reason was because the quality of the Main beach had suffered in recent years.  Orcalab 13 Jul 2020 22:26:42 PDT Orcas approaching Orcalab. A30s are headed into Blackney Pass! Watch live:https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab 13 Jul 2020 20:13:25 PDT Superb sounds!! Orcas are in the Reserve - listen live to their calls!  Orcalab 13 Jul 2020 14:21:09 PDT Superb sounds!! We are hearing beautiful A1, A4 and A5 calls right now on our new Flower Island hydrophone. Such a delight to hear such crisp, beautiful calls coming from our new hydrophone after a very laborious effort by our team!  Orcalab 13 Jul 2020 04:41:03 PDT