No calls but orcas nearby September 3 2021 Orcas: A50s, A54s, A35s with A56, A73s, A23s, A25s, A42s with A94, I4s, I16s, I27s, I65s Humpbacks: Domino, Argonaut The A30s and a vocal humpback took it in turns to sing through the night in Blackfish Sound. Our dreams were interjected with lots of foraging, distant tones and ‘whups’ as the cetacean chorus rang out from 2:30am until daybreak. After a brief pause, loud A30 calls started again and we found them quickly on our remote Flower Island camera. They were pointed towards Blackney Pass and spread out. They came into our view at 8:15am in dribs and drabs, and we had all of the A50s close to the lab, mixed in with some of the A54s, and the rest further over to the far shore. They stayed as a unit and we traced them all the way (silently) into Johnstone Strait and over to the Vancouver Island shore - very slowly. With very little acoustic warning, some of the A42s with A94 were at Strider Rubbing Beach just before midday. We surmise they split from the rest of the A5s and A30s overnight and lingered to the east. The rub was brief, but just as they got started: incoming from Blackfish Sound! Three acoustically distinct groups were heard in the sound, whom we later identified as the A35s, A73s, A23s, A25s, I4s, I27s and I65s. They were all back! We had so hoped that we had not seen the last of the I15 groups, having been with us for the entirety of August. We wondered what they had been doing out west, but more on that later... As the new incoming groups headed for Blackney, the A42s with A94 finished their brief rub headed west to meet up with the slow A30s in Robson Bight around 12:15pm. We quickly located the group in Blackfish Sound and Helena was delighted to identify Springer (A73) on Flower Island camera! By 12:16pm the first fins were in our view, and the influx of whales passed before us. Their calls were vibrant and they were fairly spread out. As they passed, another monumental logging blast occurred on Harbledown Island - so loud it could be heard on our hydrophone system. What on earth must the whales think when they experience such a sound? They passed quickly, I15s followed by the A5s and the A4s at the rear, clearing our view at 12:40pm and heading after the rest. We got some lovely footage on CP camera as the A35s and A73s passed close to the platform and Patrick - who had arrived at CP just hours earlier - took some beautiful photos of the whole family group. They too head east, spread out somewhat across the Strait. Around 1pm we received a report that the A30s and A42s with A94 were now westing in Robson Bight, and by 2:33pm all groups had finally joined up - that’s 59 whales around the Ecological Reserve! They slowly headed east with no calls that we could hear… how can they possibly coordinate so many, so silently! By 3:15pm the leading A4s had made it to Strider, and we heard a huge splash followed by the first pebble-dashing sounds. We braced ourselves for an afternoon of nearly 60 whales taking it in turns to rub… but no such afternoon arose. The A4s rub lasted only five minutes. The I65s made it as far as Main Rubbing Beach (no rub) before turning slowly back to the west, and by 3:42pm we could see lots of fins offshore from Strider pointed west too. Alas, perhaps such organisation en masse had proved too difficult a challenge! They wested, slowly, and with help from a smattering of reports from the Cliff we gathered that a large group of 20 or so were together, with the others in dribs and drabs. By 5:28pm we could hear them on Kaizumi and ten minutes later more A4s came in for a rub. Clearly they had been itching for the event - literally. We identified sprouter A81 on our new underwater camera and a total of 5 or 6 orcas total, before they moved on after only ten minutes. All groups crossed over to the Cracroft Shore and we saw our first fins on camera at 5:51pm. They made no delay foraging or resting - they were Blackney-bound. Patrick and Caroline reported the first fins heading our way at 6:12pm, and we were ready. This was easily the most whales we have had in Blackney Pass for a few years. Just a few ‘R’s short of a superpod! All came in, largely sticking to their family groupings. The A23s were first, spread out a little, closely followed by the A25s. The A50s and 54s were next, further back in our view. The A35s and A73s travelled closest to the lab, and we were grateful to get a good look at Springer and see A81 breaching multiple times! The I65s and I27s travelled together, and finally the I4s and A42s were grouped - furthest away on the far shore. When there are this many whales out front it is hard to keep track, but it looked like the A25s crossed to the far side and hung back, as Surge (A61) was the last to clear into the Sound at 6:44pm. We followed them into the fading light and were hearing the last echoes of their calls around 9pm. As they headed west, a humpback struck up song (also in Blackfish Sound) and it was the most clear and ‘coherent’ song we’ve heard this year - such a treat. The last bit of excitement was a report from Jared that he was with the I16s (the last unit of the I15 group) heading east in front of Alert Bay at 7:07pm! Perhaps that is why the other I15 groups headed out - had they gone to collect their remaining family and encourage them into the Strait? They could be heard off Beaver Cove around 8pm and were joined a short while later by the A30s and A5s, and maybe some more of the I15 groups too. The A4s, it seems, headed out west again. Before midnight, we were picking up faint A and I calls in the western edges of the Strait. It will be interesting to see how tomorrow unfolds, and whether we will get our first glimpse of the I16 group.  Suzie 04 Sep 2021 10:23:03 PDT