September 27 & 28 2020: A23s, A25s, Humpbacks: Argonaut, Pacific White-sided dolphins, Sea lions, seals. September 27 was remarkable for how uneventful it was. At 6:22am we began to record a humpback in Blackfish Sound. The calls lasted until 8:22am. The rest of the day was spent dodging the rain, watching the many sea lions hauled out and trying to ID the humpbacks in the Pass. With regard to the sea lions, it now looks as if the females, young juveniles and babies have joined the adult males on the local haul out rocks. These rocks on Hanson Island are not the only place the sea lions haul out during the winter. There is quite a large contingent in the Plumper Islands as well. Our count is nearing 50 -100 on a regular basis. That makes for a lot of growls and jostling for space. September 28 had a bit more jump. Not only did the weather slowly begin to improve we were kept busy for longer hours through the night. Just before 1am a humpback began singing in Blackfish Sound. He stopped disappointingly a few minutes later. A few hours later at 4:21am a humpback struck up the band once more and gave a longer performance. The calls lasted until just before 5am. The rest of the morning came and went. While outside fixing the deck speaker and watching a humpback out of the corner of her eye, Helena heard A5 calls at 10:29am. The calls were in Blackfish Sound. The orcas must be on their way back! We had concluded a couple of days ago that the A23s/A25s had gone west in Johnstone Strait and most likely left the area via Weynton Pass. All this based on some very faint calls from 11:30pm on the 25th to 12:16am on the 26th and realising that it had been possible to follow the more expressive dolphins westward as they presumably accompanied the orcas. The dolphins have recently been quite persistent following the orcas, especially A85 and young year old baby, A121 so it was not a far fetched assumption. Back to the 28th, the A5s continued to call until 10:47am and then went quiet. This led to the thought that they had decided to go into the Strait via Weynton Pass. But an hour later we saw them heading south! They were travelling pretty fast, that is until they reached Parson Island, just after the Light, where they stopped, turned and milled about for a short while. The current was in full flood so eventually they carried on through the rest of the Pass. As the A25s have been their constant companions through September we waited for the proverbial shoe to drop. Sure enough ten minutes after the A23s cleared our view came the A25s (11:58am). They too were in a hurry and wasted no time ÒrunningÓ through the Pass. And you guessed it, A85 and A121 were surrounded by dolphins once again. The A23s had let out a few short calls just after they disappeared from view and so did the A25s. During the time following they were quiet. We indulged in thinking that both groups carried on to the Strait and went east. We were hampered by not having a remote camera at Cracroft Point to watch the scene in Johnstone Strait. Regardless, we picked up their trail acoustically at 1pm when someone went in for a short rub at Kaizumi Beach. From Kaizumi they headed to Robson Bight. Jenn could see them advancing eastward on the remote camera at Critical Point, Robson Bight. By 2:10pm, A61 was near that eastern headland of the Bight. With some very loud echolocation he and A85/A121 passed out of camera view by 2:19pm. Interesting that the A25s had now taken the lead, the reverse of earlier in the day. Both groups headed for Strider Beach. The rub there for the A23s began at 2:37pm and for the A25s at 2:40pm. Of course the dolphins were there as well. It was a short rub that was over after just a few minutes. The orcas then came into view of the Main Beach remote camera. They were milling offshore and did not go into Main for a rub but headed back to Strider to start another rub at 3:12pm. From there, after this rub, they headed offshore and made a wide circle toward Cracroft Island where they turned and went east. We lost sight of them at 4:15pm. Megan (HB) got home after braving the winds off Alert Bay. With various things to do in town her stay got extended by circumstance. It was great to have her back. As she nudged the Sonic in, a huge male sea lion stretched out his neck, curious to see what she was up to. Argonaut, the humpback, was in Blackney Pass with others for most of the day. Tempting to think it was Argonaut who began singing at 5:43pm in Blackfish Sound. During the recorded session, which lasted until, well until forever actually, this humpback made really clear calls, then fainter ones after retreating away from the hydrophone, and more after shifting from Blackfish to Blackney at 8:09pm. He eventually went quiet but we could still hear him move around not far from the hydrophone at 9:02pm. Then at 9:34pm he began to sing again. Even an approaching tug with its loud boat noise did not deter his efforts at first. He continued to sound quite loud. As the tug drew parallel to Parson Island the humpback finally quit and did not fully resume properly afterwards. This day is pretty much done but donÕt think the humpback is, fairly sure there will be more.  OrcaLab 28 Sep 2020 22:27:40 PDT Orcas rubbing on the shore bottom. A23s and A25s approaching Strider Rubbing Beach follow them https://www.explore.org/liv.... OrcaLab 28 Sep 2020 14:46:01 PDT Orcas rubbing on the shore bottom. A23s and A25s approaching Strider Rubbing Beach follow them https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Jennifer 28 Sep 2020 14:37:12 PDT Orcas approaching Orcalab. A23s are now in Blackfish Sound heading to Blackney Pass, come and follow them https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base   Jennifer 28 Sep 2020 11:44:02 PDT