Superb sounds!! Shift Summaries 2021: August 30 2021 Orcas: A50s, A54s, A23s, A25s, A42s + A94, I4s, I27s, I65s Humpbacks: True to our suspicions, the groups moved steadily across Johnstone Strait from the Vancouver Island shore to Cracroft Point, shortly after midnight. At 12:42am, the first “independent” calls in Blackney Pass told us that they were about to pass through. Kam, on her very last shift at the lab, went outside to listen for blows from the deck and heard many pass by, spread out and travelling fast, at 12:45am. Some of the A30s and A5s passed first, their calls ringing out in Blackfish Sound at 12:51am, and the I15 groups followed suit. All were mixed and seemingly spread out in the Sound for the next few hours, as their calls and echolocation faded but remained audible until just before 4am. Once again, a brief humpback interlude just after 5am marks this the third consecutive night that a humpback has been heard - they are warming up for a songful September, we hope! At 6:41am we began to hear faint A30 calls once more in Blackfish Sound, joined by a humpback in the early morning light not long afterwards. The calls tapered off, and only faint and sporadic echolocation were heard for the next two hours. At 8:44am, Gary on the Skana tipped us that a “lovely” group was imminent. This gave us just enough time to prepare ourselves on deck for one of the most lovely passages indeed. At 8:48am the first fins were in view, and they were close. One large male - Fife (A60) - was most striking amidst a host of smaller fins. He was travelling with the rest of his family, the A23s, along with the A25s and A54s. The A50s were not far behind, slightly further away than the rest, traversing the Pass as a tight group. The I27s and I65s came next, bunched up together, the little baby (I165) nestled safely in between the rest. Just as they were clearing at 9:04am, the I4s came zooming by, travelling quickly to catch up the procession into Johnstone Strait. Although it only spanned fifteen minutes, this was one of the most beautiful scenes we have seen in Blackney this summer. No calls, few boats, just families of orcas travelling together through their historic home waters in the morning glow. It was perhaps most special for lab assistant Kam who - much to our chagrin - left the lab today to return to school. She couldn’t have asked for a better final morning! Kam has been out on the deck from morning to night every single day, determined to document every single humpback in Blackney Pass. Today, she passed the baton onto Patrick, and her final remark while zooming away from the rocks on the Sonic: “Patrick - there’s a HUMPBACK!”, gesturing wildly into Parson Bay. We will miss you Kam, see you next year. Back to the whales. As they entered Johnstone Strait, all seemed to travel east for a little while, passing closely on our remote Cracroft Point camera at 9:25am. However, not long after, they turned to the west. Around the same time, we received a report from Scotty that the A42s with A94 had been heading west off Telegraph Cove, but had now turned east at 9:49am. Perhaps a meet-up was in order! We followed the mixed calls of the large group to the west, and by 11:13am they were mid-Strait between Big Bay on Hanson and the Vancouver Island shore. At this time, we were preparing for a ‘Live Q&A’ with Paul and Helena streamed from the lab to our Explore platform starting at 12pm. We were actually very grateful that the obliging whales stayed clear of the Rubbing Beaches during this time! Naturally, a few technical difficulties arose, during which Quin worked frantically (and successfully) to overcome. He has spent the past week working hard to put this Q&A together from a technical standpoint, and with Suzie moderating questions and Megan helping with the camera, the event was a great success and very well-received. A few reports over the afternoon, and it appeared that the large westbound group managed to get to the entrance of Weynton Passage where they milled for a good while, before eventually turning back into Johnstone Strait again. The A42s with A94 actually spent some of this time in Beaver Cove before heading east past Telegraph Cove again at 2:23pm. Faint calls reached us again at 3:43pm, and by 4:19pm Lucille and Sofia at CP could see a few fins - including A61 - heading east. The rest were fairly silent, until at 4:48pm we were surprised by a rub at Kaizumi! From the calls heard and males seen, we believe that some of the A23s, A42s and I4s were present. The rub was over at 5:01pm and they headed east, shortly replaced by the A54s rubbing minutes later. Their rub was much longer, and we heard some very excited whistles and calls with some great “bubble blowing” sounds as they exhaled and rubbed. All continued east, quickly, and we tracked them moving through Robson Bight, foraging a little, on their way to Strider. The A23s came in first, beginning their rub at 6:06pm. We captured some more stunning footage and audio during this rub, which lasted just shy of an hour. We saw more than the A23s on camera with only A5 calls for a while, so it is possible that members of the A42s also rubbed with them again. The I15 groups all eventually caught up and joined the fray. At 7pm they had had enough, and turned back to the west and into Robson Bight. They seemed to largely stay in the general area of the Ecological Reserve, until just before midnight when another rub at Strider began - but that can be tomorrow’s story! The A25s, previously seen off CP, had slowly crossed the Strait and by 7:48pm we were hearing them closely on Kaizumi. All three came in to rub at 8:14pm and stayed for just ten minutes. We noticed at the end of the rub a sea lion charging into the beach and joining up with a group of five or six of his kind - a turf war, perhaps? The A25s headed east to join up with the large group now in Robson Bight. The only “missing piece” is the possible whereabouts of the A50s whom we did not identify at the rubbing beaches. We did not hear that they had separated from the group while in Weynton Pass, so our best estimate is that they are present in the Strait with the rest, perhaps the rubbing beaches were just a little too crowded! Tomorrow will surely tell.  OrcaLab 31 Aug 2021 13:47:44 PDT Superb sounds!! Incredible rub at Strider continues,-cals, surface and underwater video scenes all amazing!  OL crew 31 Aug 2021 12:26:34 PDT Superb sounds!! Another great rub happening at Strider! OL crew 31 Aug 2021 11:49:54 PDT