No orcas present. August 27 2020: A50s, A54s, R18s, R13s, T60D, T60E, Humpbacks, Argonaut and Inukshuk, PWD “Two households, both alike in dignity” When we left off we were hoping the A30s were to come into Blackney Pass soon. However, this endeavour took a little longer than expected because the A30s had split up into their two matrilines. So as we listened to the grou,p who had passed Boat Bay at 10:25pm, and were heard on the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach we became aware of the other side of the family still nearer to Robson Bight just around midnight. It was momentarily confusing because, and we remarked in a previous report, that the A30s were spending a lot of time as a close knit group. It took a few hours but they did succeed in a union at Kaizumi Beach by 3:40am. The whales became excited and then began to travel together once again toward Cracroft Point just after 4am. Within the half hour they were all headed north through Blackney Pass. The note in the book said simply ‘magic”; calls, blows and a cloudless sky overhead of a calm ocean. Throughout the early morning hours a humpback or two called in Blackfish Sound intermittently. And not to be outdone, there was dolphin chatter as well. Later there was a report of 100 dolphins off Kaizumi Beach in the afternoon. The A30s continued west through Blackfish Sound and later in the morning were found and reported just north of Donegal Head. They were still not far from there when next reported at 9:46am. Meanwhile in Johnstone Strait, two Bigg’s orcas were spotted heading west. By 9:55am, T60D and T60E had crossed over to the Cracroft Island side and were heading west at the Sophia Islands. They were pretty relaxed but steadily travelling. They passed CP where they were identified. Good thing too because Blackney Pass was shrouded in fog for much of the morning. It cleared sufficiently for us to track their movements half way through the Pass from 11:11am till 11:54am. They made no calls and despite the fact that the Pass was packed with marine mammals of every description, seals, Dall Porpoise, sea lions, humpbacks, they showed little interest except to carry on travelling north. Fog descended once again and we gave up trying to locate them, which we never did. The A30s, meanwhile, had shifted to the Plumpers from the White Cliff Islets and Penfold Island area. They began to go through Weynon Pass from 1pm. Unbeknownst to us until much later there was a lot going on west of the A30s in Queen Charlotte Strait. At 2:15pm, well after the A30s had decided on Weynton Passage, the R18s and R13s “peeked”, as Kate put it, around the corner of Malcolm Point. They were relaxed and milling before they mosied down to Bere Point. They turned around at 4:15pm and went west. At 4:35pm, they were between Malcolm and Greame Points. An hour later, pointed to the Mastermann Island. (Thanks to Kate, Dylan and Lance for their information). Had the A30s heard the Rs despite the long distance between them? For some reason,both groups eventually left off from the chance to come together and went their own way in completely opposite directions. The A30s were totally silent as they returned to the Strait. At 4:19pm they were easting along the Hanson Island shore, and by 4:24pm their distant blows could be seen travelling close to one and another towards Vancouver Island. Still silent. Such a long time passed before they started calling in Robson Bight at 7:19pm. Their calls broke through all the other noises as they travelled slowly, the A54s first, past Critical Point. The A50s passed the same way at 8pm. Both groups came into Strider Beach for a rub between 8:28pm and 9pm . They left off there to head to the Main Beach for a rub at 9:05pm. They were still calling closely at 9:14pm but afterwards their calls began to fade as they continued east. That was it! Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Were the Rs waiting for others? Will they return? Jared Towers, who took over from Lance after 4:30pm, left them at 8pm still moving west off the Port Hardy airport.  OrcaLab 27 Aug 2020 23:41:09 PDT Orcas rubbing on the shore bottom. Orca rubbing in live at Strider Rubbing Beach Cam, come and see https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Jennifer 27 Aug 2020 20:17:29 PDT No calls but orcas nearby Two Biggs orca in Blackney Pass, heading North Gloria 27 Aug 2020 11:39:59 PDT No calls but orcas nearby Two Biggs killer whales in Blackney Pass! Gloria 27 Aug 2020 11:39:31 PDT No calls but orcas nearby August 26 2020: A30s,T18,T19s, Humpbacks,PWD Daylight greeted us with a few humpback groans in Blackfish Sound just after 6am. Then blows were heard at 6:40am. There were no accompanying calls and the event lacked description as nothing was actually visible at the time. A mystery. The early morning hours had been uneventful save a few possible dolphin calls just after midnight. By late morning, 11:21am, things picked up. Somewhat by chance a visual scan of the area east of the Reserve using the remote Main Rubbing Beach camera yielded a very distant look at a group of orcas heading west along the Cracroft Island shore well east of Boat Bay. We had been anticipating the A30s to return from the east. However, this was not was happening. The boat following turned out to be the research vessel, Pinnegar whose task is to follow whales and pick up their poop. Yes, you read that correctly. This humble job yields some of the most interesting information about the whales, their diet among other things. The boat usually follows at a reasonable distance. The Pinnegar informed the Cliff researchers and ourselves that the group of Bigg’s orcas was the T19s travelling as they usually do with T18. The Bigg’s carried on travelling the entire length of West Cracroft Island. By 12:55pm they passed the Cliff Research site (opposite Robson Bight). At 1:17pm (21 minutes later) they were off the Sophia Islands making way to Cracroft Point. By this time they had excited several boats, research, whale watching and recreational boats too. This flotilla followed the whales into Blackney Pass. All came into view at 1:42pm. The large male, T19B, with his ever so distinctive fin, came in first. T19C next along with T18 and T19. The whales were spread out and flanked and followed by the boats right through the Pass. T19B chose mid channel and at one point he slowed down completely. When submerging he left just the tip visible. Before the whales cleared our view at 2:02pm they were together in mid channel. They continued travelling through Blackfish Sound. Around 5:33pm, dolphin chattered livened the hydrophone near the Bight till around 6:17pm. They may have been the advance party. At 8:22pm, Jenn thought she heard faint calls on the Critical Point (Robson Bight) hydrophone. At 9:09pm, she noted echo location on Main Rubbing Beach. At 9:32pm, a few distant calls were heard followed by a faint A30 call 5 minutes later. The Wardens, back in camp at Boat Bay, reported orcas passing to the west at 10:25pm. Then finally, the A30s declared themselves on the Kaizumi Rubbing Beach hydrophone around 11pm. There were dolphins too (and a humpback briefly in Blackney Pass). The calls, not particularly close but clear nevertheless, suggested that perhaps they were still nearer the Cracroft Island shore. Perhaps like this morning's Bigg's they will choose to come through Blackney Pass too.  OrcaLab 27 Aug 2020 00:04:53 PDT