Superb sounds!! The A34s are back in Johnstone Strait! Calling now on our Cracroft Point hydrophone. Orcalab 28 Jan 2020 00:24:02 PST

Superb sounds!! Sooo pretty! The A34s travelled east in Johnstone Strait and are now off the Bight. OrcaLab 26 Jan 2020 19:39:55 PST Superb sounds!! We have the A34s calling in Johnstone Strait! Beautiful, clear calls. Tune in with us! Suzie 26 Jan 2020 17:13:26 PST

No orcas present. The T46s travelled west in Johnstone Strait and past Alert Bay around 2pm today. Jim Borrowman saw them first when they were of Telegraph Cove and Gary Sutton kept watch for them as they neared Alert Bay where he was able to identify them from shore. Donna Mackay later reported that a group was headed north from Seymour Narrows around 4:30pm. A good effort from everyone! OrcaLab 23 Jan 2020 21:39:04 PST

Distant calls audible. Ah maybe now we will hear those Gs from yesterday. Incredibly distant in Blackfish Sound but occasionally audible. Listen carefully! OrcaLab 21 Jan 2020 16:26:55 PST No calls but orcas nearby Summary for 20 January 2020 T002Cs What a Bigg day we had! The morning brought glorious sunshine and tropical temperatures of up to 13C (!) - a welcome change after the deep freeze of last week. Due to Jared Towers' report of the the G17s, G46s and I4s easting at Bere Point around 2pm, Suzie and Quin were keeping one eye and ear on Blackney Passage at all times in case they decided to pass in front of the lab. At 3:52pm, Suzie spotted the anticipated fins mid-channel headed south! They scrambled to their stations in the lab and managed to locate the group on base camera. There was one large male fin and around three smaller fins in view. They were expecting the Northern Resident groups, but this group made no calls and took deep dives, which are more characteristic of Bigg's orcas... They were fighting a strong ebbing current and at 3:57pm they had decided the fight wasn't worth it, and turned back north. The main group were cleared into Blackfish Sound by 4:05pm, and at 4:22pm Suzie caught sight of another fin deeper into Parson's Bay - yet another sign that they may be Biggs - and that individual was only seen twice before they lost the light. Our suspicions were confirmed as we looked to ID the group from our photos - it was the T002Cs! Many thanks to Jared for his help with the ID work. Just goes to show we must never make any assumptions, hey! Not the orcas we had expected to see, but a treat nonetheless! Now we wait to hear more from those Northern Residents, our eyes ever scanning the horizon...  OrcaLab 21 Jan 2020 13:49:06 PST

No calls but orcas nearby Elusive! These orcas might be Bigg's orcas, deep dives, changing direction, no calls - stay tuned! OrcaLab 20 Jan 2020 16:25:59 PST No calls but orcas nearby Northern Residents in Blackney Pass headed south. Earlier today we heard from Jared that the I04s, G17s,G46s were headed south in Queen Charlotte Strait off Bere Point at 2:45pm. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base OrcaLab 20 Jan 2020 15:49:05 PST

No orcas present. Today we learned that the A42s finally came away from Georgia Strait. Jared Towers saw them westbound in Cormorant Channel around 10am. At the same time the G17s were seen westbound off Donegal Head. Alert Bay experienced a power outage through the night. When power came back at Noon these reports were a welcomed surprise! Thanks once again Jared and glad you could get pictures from shore rather having to go out in this stormy weather. OrcaLab 18 Jan 2020 16:30:46 PST

No calls but orcas nearby The orcas are going east in Johnstone Strait. We did find them on the CP cam. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-cracroft-point-surface Great waves right now in this winter storm! OrcaLab 17 Jan 2020 16:28:07 PST Superb sounds!! The winter Gs have arrived! Susie began to hear calls a short while ago off the entrance to Blackney Pass in Johnstone Strait. Trying right now to find them on the cameras.  OrcaLab 17 Jan 2020 16:17:42 PST

Distant calls audible. We hear calls in the Johnstone Strait!! Not sure who it is yet but keep on listening! Quin 10 Jan 2020 11:11:21 PST

No orcas present. Good news! We've had a break in the weather so our team have managed to replace batteries at three of our hydrophone stations. Critical Point, Cracroft Point and Parson Island are now back into the mix and able to stream live at www.orca-live.net Orcalab 09 Jan 2020 09:26:25 PST

No orcas present. Good news, everyone! Our remote cameras are streaming again at www.explore.org so you can enjoy the sea lions once more. We are still experiencing problems with the hydrophones so unfortunately the live stream at www.orca-live.net is still affected, but we hope to resolve this soon. Stay tuned! Orcalab 07 Jan 2020 09:09:38 PST

Performing maintenance Happy New Year everyone! We are experiencing some technical issues compounded by the stormy weather of late. Hopefully we will get back on track before long. Wishing everyone a healthy and safe year ahead. OrcaLab 01 Jan 2020 09:02:54 PST

No calls but orcas nearby We see 5-7 orca blows in Johnstone Strait on our remote camera at Cracroft Point. No calls yet but we're listening out! https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-cracroft-point-surface Suzie 15 Dec 2019 10:02:04 PST

Distant calls audible. We hear beautiful calls on CRPT!  Claire 30 Nov 2019 03:33:59 PST

Can't believe it is almost the end of November. The weather has turned cold (- temperatures) and the water lines have frozen and we have had to dip into the stored reserves - no worries - the stars are out in force with the clear skies, taking their turn from the new moon lighting up the night! Salt water baths are the ticket, in the dark, in the cold, under that amazing, wondrous sky. Daytime has been just as good with the snow covered mountains of Vancouver Island, frost on the ground and sunny, sunny, clear skies. Not hard at all - just more socks and as Megan would say "more jumpers" too. Claire and Jérémie composed the following summary for the 23rd-26th: Summary for November 23 to 26 2019 Bigg’s, A42s, A34s, Humpbacks The last few days have been pretty quiet on Hanson Island but not completely silent. On the 25th, we heard brief Bigg’s calls at 3:40pm in Johnstone Strait on our hydrophone located in the Robson Bight. At 8:15pm, we heard distant calls again on our Cracroft Point hydrophone. The orcas were vocal a bit longer this time and we believe they were Bigg’s but boat noise increased by 8:26pm and we stopped hearing them after that. That same day, we had a report that the A42s were traveling North from the west side of Cortes Island into Calm Channel. Another report indicated that the A34s (minus the A62s) were in Douglas Channel, headed North, on the 24th. Thanks Jenny Rietz for sharing the reports with us! On the 26th, Claire was woken up by a humpback song at 1:07am. What a lovely surprise to hear beautiful “woos” again! She first heard him on the Robson Bight hydrophone and eventually moving to our Cracroft Point hydrophone by 1:14am. The song was distant though and it is possible that there were 2 humpbacks there! Later in the day, the sea lions were in great numbers on their favourite haul-out on the Hanson Island shore in Blackney Pass. Our remote camera is streaming live again on explore.org and we took great pleasure watching them living their sea lion life. We even saw a pup suckling up close! We’re planning to install the microphone soon but in the meantime we enjoy hearing them growl with our own ears directly from the lab! This afternoon, Paul and Helena came back from Alert Bay with Mark. There will be some great improvement of the main house ceiling soon! And we’ll also work on the maintenance of our remote stations power supplies. OrcaLab 29 Nov 2019 22:51:27 PST