Performing maintenance HI everyone, we will be doing some work in the Lab tomorrow and for at least one more day that will require us to shut down power to the Lab. It means that we will not be streaming audio or video. We will be back as soon as possible. Meanwhile, take good care, please, and stay safe! OrcaLab 18 Oct 2020 21:16:43 PST Distant calls audible. The humpback was interrupted by a boat but picked it up again about a half hour later. Recently there have been a few calls, nothing very social but perhaps some feeding effort going on through the night. OrcaLab 18 Oct 2020 04:41:44 PST

We have a Humpback calling on Flower Island!  Megan  17 Oct 2020 20:31:28 PST There was a humpback singing on our Flower island hydrophone. But he has now stopped. Hopefully he will start up again!  Megan  17 Oct 2020 04:56:52 PST

Humpback calls on Flower Island  Beck and Megan  11 Oct 2020 04:39:09 PST

Orcas near mics. Beautiful humpback song on Flower Island come and listen with us https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Jennifer 09 Oct 2020 13:54:06 PST

October 7 & 8 2020: Humpbacks, Sea Lions, Harbour Seals Ever wonder what we do when the orcas are not around? On October 7 we welcomed Clay Fischer back to OrcaLab to oversee the installation of the BIG new (and colourful) batteries to replace the old (less colourful) bank that had outlived their life. The job of replacing the batteries began with ordering, shipping and transporting to Hanson Island. Amazingly, we had help at the dock. Bill Mckay came down to the dock in Port McNeill where the shipment was unloaded. He took one look at the stack of 120lb batteries (16 in all) and went home to outfit his truck with his trusty winch. When he arrived back three young men were loading their boat on the opposite side. As Bill hooked a battery onto his winch he called them over. In the space of what felt like 10 minutes they manhandled (always wondered about that term) the batteries onto the June Cove for the ride home! The trusty June Cove made it home, no problem. But this of course meant the batteries needed to be lifted off the boat and onto shore. No strong young men at this end. The solution was to beach the boat and wait for the tide to go out the next day then slide the batteries down a ramp and walk them up the beach to the deck. Easier said than done. But the task was accomplished without complication. It was time to take a break. Fortunately, additional help was coming. James and Beck arrived just in time. James modified the battery box so the old BIG batteries could be lifted out easily and moved the new BIG batteries closer to their final resting spot. Then Clay arrived, and saw to it that the old batteries were dismantled and removed. Everyone helped. The new batteries were put in place and hooked up. Clay made sure everything was working as it should. During these quieter non-whale moments the idea of getting the woodshed in shape for winter starts to be very appealing. The October weather is definitely turning cooler (and wetter). The stoves are getting more use of late. To meet the demand we need to secure a good supply each year. Megan took it on herself to grab a couple of promising logs, one from across the bay and the other from under the feet of several seagulls who were using it to ride the current. Both were excellent choices, one hemlock, one fir. In no time the two logs were bucked into rounds, chopped and stacked. The gift of winterÕs warmth. Today, October 8, was very wet. We had caught a break in the weather yesterday when we were fiddling with the batteries but the rains came in the night and continued through the day. Everything was drenched thoroughly. Before Clay left the conversation turned to the benefits of resurrecting the micro hydro installation. A hike over to the creek, now overflowing its banks, looked encouraging. Most of the pictures from today all have the same grey theme. Grey humpbacks, grey skies, grey water. One exception,James noticed as he worked on a shelter for the outdoor bath firewood, a seal in the green waters of the inner bay, just meters from where he was working, had a large salmon. Another seal came by and grabbed some of the bounty. The two, focused on their feast, ignored the camera shutter and carried on until the salmon was devoured. With the dark evening, day and chores done, the stoves making cozy, the continuing rains patter down noisily drowning out the somewhat distant humpback calling on the hydrophone.  OrcaLab 08 Oct 2020 21:02:55 PST

Performing maintenance Good morning everyone! We are doing some work on power at the Lab and will be off line for several hours. Back as soon as possible. Meanwhile, thanks for your patience. OrcaLab 07 Oct 2020 10:06:33 PST

Superb sounds!! Really interesting and good humpback sounds in Blackney Pass at the moment. Ocean quiet!  OrcaLab 06 Oct 2020 19:57:00 PST It's that time of night again, The humpback has started singing on the Flower Island hydrophone!  Megan  06 Oct 2020 18:39:35 PST Superb sounds!! October 4 & 5: Humpbacks, Sea Lions Thought it a good idea to catch-up before too much time passes. Listening to very nice humpback vocals in Blackfish Sound at the moment. It is 3am on October 6. This began at 8:18pm yesterday evening. Without jinxing it, the ocean has been quiet, no boat noise for a long time while this humpback has been seemingly content to carry on. Ayway, going back even further, a good deal of October 4 was dealing with power issues at the Lab and we had to turn the power off for a while. Luckily, the whale scene was uncomplicated and nothing major was missed. It is beginning to feel as if the Northern Residents are now some distance away. We last heard the A5s near Robson Bight mid day on September 30. There have been no reports of their whereabouts since. We welcome James and Rebecca to the Lab. Friends of Megan, they will be helping out through the month of October. Rebecca heard humpback vocals for the first time this evening. The Sea Lions are carrying on with their daily rhythm of getting on and off their haul-out rocks.  OrcaLab 06 Oct 2020 03:15:06 PST Still going! Still in Blackfish. OrcaLab 06 Oct 2020 02:34:14 PST

And four hours later, this humpback is still singing away, How incredible!  Megan  05 Oct 2020 23:14:25 PST Orcas near mics. There is a humpback in Blackfish Sound trying out various sounds. OrcaLab 05 Oct 2020 19:53:26 PST

We have a Humpback calling on Flower Island! Listen live now!  Megan  04 Oct 2020 22:43:08 PST Performing maintenance We are doing some work in the Lab and will be down for a while. Back soon, we hope, and thank you for your patience! OrcaLab 04 Oct 2020 13:46:20 PST

October 3 2020: Unidentified Bigg’s , T55s, Dolphins It was as if a grey sheet was drawn right in front of us today. The fog, or is it smog again, was so thick that the world became almost monochrome. Rather peaceful with our view pretty much reduced to the bays in front of us. We could make out the harlequin ducks and even a loon slightly off shore avoiding advancing sea lions. Amazingly,the day was not without orcas. Just before 2pm we heard Bigg’s calls. They must have been “just around the corner” in the entrance to Blackney Pass. By chance Jenn saw them along the fog line mid channel. They were just about to disappear into Blackfish Sound. We had no chance of photos but later wondered if they might the T55s who Jared Towers identified going west past Alert Bay at 6:46pm. In the evening, around 7:50pm Pacific Whitesided dolphins were heard in Johnstone Strait not far from Strider Rubbing Beach. They went west to Robson Bight where their calls became louder. After that their calls became distant once again and broke off eventually in the midst of heavy boat noise. It sounded like a sizable group. How often it seems we have both orcas and dolphins on the same day! Quite a lot of our day was consumed by moving the large, heavy new batteries off the June Cove and up onto the deck where they will soon replace the old ones and give literally new energy to the OrcaLab power systems. It was quite the job and possibly Megan, Jenn, Helena and Paul will feel it tomorrow! Time for a hot soak in the Hanson Island tub. Good news on the Quin and Suzie front. Suzie got some time off from work and she has now joined Quin on their new sailboat, the Orion. Quin has brought the boat around from Port Renfrew and is currently near Sonora Island. We will probably see them in a few days!. That is if the fog finally clears and we can actually see again! OrcaLab 03 Oct 2020 21:00:04 PST We have some very chatty Pacific white sided dolphins calling on our critical Point hydrophone! Its quite lovely! Megan, Paul and Helana 03 Oct 2020 19:10:33 PST

September 30 2020: A5s heard, Humpbacks,Sea Lions September 30th began with the calls of a humpback in Blackfish Sound growing gradually fainter at 12:19am and stopping momentarily at 12:33am. He picked it up again at 1:24am briefly just before our attention was drawn toward Johnstone Strait where the A5s began a rub at Kaizumi Beach at 1:35am. The orcas let out a few calls, rare these days, as they continued with the rub which eventually ended by 2am. As dawn broke a humpback was again heard in the distance. Smoke was in the air again and the sun took on a distinctive red hue. Jenn and Megan Hockin-Bennett prepared to dive on the mooring at slack tide around 10am. This went well despite the breezy southeast wind. Realising that the mooring would need additional work Jenn and Megan swam back to shore following the Sonic which had Megan McKenzie and Paul on board as their above water help. This was to be Megan McKenzieÕs last day at the Lab. She would leave the next day to resume work in Vancouver with the raptor programme she interrupted to come to Hanson Island. Megan has been a terrific help and she will be missed. The discrete A5s briefly let us know that they had moved toward Robson Bight at 11:03am. We felt we were hearing just one individual with the impression that it might be a young whale. Whoever it was, the whale repeated the same call over and over again. The calls sounded strained and then dropped off after a bout of echolocation. We did not hear the A5s again. From 7:35pm to 9:20pm we heard humpback calls in Blackney Pass and Blackfish Sound. This concluded the day. October 1 2020: T34s, T37s,T101s (-T102),Humpbacks, Pacific White-sided dolphins, Sea Lions During the early morning shift, from 12 to 3am, a humpback made several tries to begin his song but managed half attempts at best. We recorded and noted the fluctuations of his efforts. Just after this shift ended and a new one began this humpback finally broke into a full voice for 10 minutes. He was magnificent. Then inexplicably he began to slow down, making sounds, but no longer song. He continued in this vain until 6:37am. The day unfolded, Megan McKenzie prepared to leave on the Sonic so she might catch the Alert Bay ferry on time. Paul and Helena,meanwhile, were participating, as observers for Dolphin Connection, in a virtual Zoom meeting of the Conservation Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This was the third day of such meetings. The work of this committee on behalf of cetaceans is impressive. The IWC meeting was cancelled this year due to COVID, extending the inter-session period. The well managed meetings have discussed a wide range of concerns; bicatch, cetaceans of concern, whale watching, ship strikes. As soon as the meeting was over it was Paul and HelenaÕs turn to get ready to leave for Alert bay as well. They made one stop on the way at Double Bay to say good -bye to Michel Reppy who was on his way back to California, his other home. Michael gave a tour of the improved facilities. He has worked very hard over the last few years to renovate the old resort in preparation of developing a sanctuary for Corky based on the philosophy of ÒBuild it and they will comeÓ. Michael will return next Spring to resume his dream of bringing Corky home. As Paul and Helena carried on to Port McNeill to pick up new batteries, Jenn and Megan were suddenly very busy at the Lab. At 11:35am a large group of Pacific-Whitesided dolphins entered the Pass. They mixed it up with the sea lions as they foraged and left to the north. At 12:23pm, they heard BiggÕs orca calls and located 6 fins in the entrance of Blackney Pass engaged in a hunt. They would be later identified as the T34s,T37s and T101s and they would stay in this same general area until around 3pm. They were vocal, strongly at 12:47pm, throughout this event. The impression was that they were after sea lions. At 3pm, Jenn noted the following: ÒSince 3:02pm the BiggÕs probably came back to Blackney Pass. A boat which was stopping and restarting grabbed my attention. As I was scanning on the remote Parson Island camera, I decided to find this boat. I saw it next to the sea lionÕs haul out rock but it was too far away to really see anything so I switched to the sea lion rock remote camera. The boat was right beside the rock chasing the orcas away! I started recording straight away. The orcas were close to the sea lion rock most likely hunting sea lions. Most likely disturbed by the boat, the BiggÕs went away and crossed the Pass. The boat followed them very close and then sped away to the south. Once on the other side of the Pass, the BiggÕs headed north.Ó By 3:47pm the BiggÕs were opposite the Parson Island Light. A short while later while still travelling north, a humpback was not far away from them. They did a huge dive at 4:18pm when off Harbledown Island and did not resurface until past West Pass. There were a lot of percussive bangs and calls as they entered and travelled Blackfish Sound. Calls ended at 5:28pm. Pretty sure Jenn and Megan were impressed by the length of involvement and excitement created by the BiggÕs orcas! The behaviour of the boat was certainly concerning and we hope it is not repeated. The rest of the evening was fairly quiet with the exception of a humpback far off in the distance.  OrcaLab 01 Oct 2020 21:53:33 PST Orcas approaching Orcalab. Biggs going North in Blackney Pass, come and have a look https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Jennifer 01 Oct 2020 14:45:01 PST Orcas approaching Orcalab. At least 5 biggs hunting in the EBP RIP at the entrance of Blackney Pass, come and have a look with us https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Jennifer 01 Oct 2020 11:35:04 PST Pacific White Side Dolphins and sea lions feeding all together come and see https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base  Jennifer 01 Oct 2020 10:48:32 PST Amazing Humpback song on Flower Island!  Megan  01 Oct 2020 02:10:59 PST