No calls but orcas nearby A thoroughly exciting afternoon here at the lab. Quin first spotted the orca around Parsons light at approximately 14:15. Suzie and Megan both headed to the lab to start a recording and to find them on the cameras. The whales were rather too far away for us to identify immediately, although we knew they were Bigg's due to the more pointy shape to their fins. We counted 7 whales in total. 5 small fins, a baby and a larger male that Quin felt looked familiar to the male T075A we had seen a few days previous. After an encounter spanning over an hour and half with the whales changing direction multiple times we wondered if they were looking for food but not successful. They finally cleared from our view heading north into Blackfish Sound at 15:35. Thanks to Jared Towers for coming out and helping us piece together who these whales were. He confirmed it was in fact the two whales we had seen two days ago T075 and her son T075A, accompanied by T023C and her family of three offspring. Surprisingly T023, T023C's mother, was also present which is unusual as she usually spends her time with another of her offspring: T023D and her family. Meanwhile, humpbacks Guardian and one other unidentified whale were doing some incredible acrobatics at Cracroft Point, we counted at least three double breaches! It really feels like the spring is passing over into summer with what turned out to be quite the busy afternoon including that signature north westerly wind. Orcalab 26 May 2020 20:31:04 PDT No calls but orcas nearby We have a group of Orca heading north in Blackney Pass right now. Watch live at Explore. https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab 26 May 2020 14:18:17 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby Here at the lab we had an exciting morning. After a full day of rain yesterday we awoke to a growing south east wind and grey skies. Things were quiet until we heard Quin shout "ORCA". T075 and her son T075A passed by the lab heading south in Blackney Pass at 11:13am. Quin first spotted them from the guest house and we all gathered on the deck to follow them as they passed by close to the lab. They cleared from our view at 11:27am heading towards the Johnstone Strait. Jared Towers and Ely Durand were already out on the water awaiting their arrival at the south entrance of Blackney Pass. The whales headed east close by Cracroft Point and down towards the Baron Reefs likely in search of the seals that frequent the rocks during these low tides. Jared and Ely followed them as the continued east and left the pair heading past the Sophia's towards the West Cracrfot shoreline at around 12:15pm. Jared and Ely stopped by for a brief boat to shore chat but with the wind picking up didn't stop for long. He told us that these whales, T075 and T075A are usually seen in the waters off the southern end of Vancouver Island and also up in Alaska and that this is his first time he has ever seen this pair traveling in the Johnstone Strait. He assumed they usually use the west coast of Vancouver Island to transit between the two areas. We feel very lucky that we were able to witness them pass by the lab so close this morning.  Orcalab 24 May 2020 13:02:18 PDT We just had a passing of orcas right in front of the lab! No calls. Orcalab 24 May 2020 11:19:55 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby We have a group of Orca heading north in Backney Pass. No calls yet. A large group with at least three males! A very foggy morning but watch live on Orclaab base cam.https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab  17 May 2020 08:53:09 PDT

It now appears we have three Humpbacks and some dolphins in Blackney Pass heading south. Jigger, Twister and one other. Scroll back on Base cam and also Sealion rock to see some of the action! https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab  13 May 2020 14:23:23 PDT More humpbacks! Jigger and Twister were seen this morning around 8:25am, heading south in Blackney Passage. We were a little unsure of their ID's but we have just seen them yet again heading north into Blackfish Sound. They gave us a lovely view of their flukes and dorsals which we could match to this morning's viewing. So wonderful to have the humpbacks returning. Many thanks to Jackie Hildering for the confirmation of their IDs, and to all the work of MERS for documenting these wonderful whales back in the summer feeding grounds. Orcalab  13 May 2020 14:22:23 PDT

We are watching a Humpback close to shore on the sea lion camera. We haven't managed to identify the whale yet but tune in live here at:https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-steller-sea-lion-haulout Suze, Megan and Quin  11 May 2020 10:23:55 PDT

Performing maintenance Live audio streaming is back! Many thanks to all involved in resolving the issue, Momoko Kobayashi, Seiji Inagaki, Jérémie and Quin. OrcaLab 10 May 2020 12:03:24 PDT

Maintenance: We are currently experiencing some issues with our live stream. Please bear with us whilst we try and troubleshoot these problems and try and get things up and running again, THANKS!  Orcalab 08 May 2020 15:50:03 PDT

There is a Humpback whale calling on our Critical Point hydrophone. There is also terrible boat noise so we are not entirely shore if the whale is still calling. Megan  30 Apr 2020 23:03:03 PDT

We're not entirely sure, but we have heard a few 'whoops' and 'squeaks' that sound like they could be Humpbacks!  Orcalab 29 Apr 2020 18:48:52 PDT No orcas present. The two humpbacks have stayed close by and are now on Parson cam milling in east Blackney Pass! We have confirmed them as Guardian and Nova. Thank you Jackie Hildering for confirmation of Nova's ID. Watch with us on this grey but whale-filled day: https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-parson-island Orcalab 29 Apr 2020 11:59:44 PDT No orcas present. We have two Humpback whales heading North in Blackney Pass. SUPER EXCITING TIMES, Watch live on Explore!  Orcalab 29 Apr 2020 11:59:18 PDT

Distant calls audible. We are hearing Biggs calls on our Critical Point hydrophone, some Pacific white sided dolphins are also present.  Megan  23 Apr 2020 01:43:19 PDT

No orcas present. This afternoon at 15:36 Megan first spotted some orca in Parsons Bay from the lab. At first we thought there was only one male and one smaller fin but soon discovered another larger male much closer to the lab with quite a recognizable fin. The whales cleared from our view heading north into Blackfish around at 15:47. After examining the photographs later we could ID two males as Biggs T019B and T019C. We also think that T018 and T019 were also present although we only managed to spot one smaller fin and it was too far away for a positive identification photograph. No vocals from the whales but with a beautiful flat calm day in Blackney Pass made fora really stunning encounter.  Quin, Suzie and Megan  21 Apr 2020 20:27:42 PDT No calls but orcas nearby Orcas now in Blackney Pass! We have seen one male and one smaller fin, mid-channel in the glassy calm water. Watch with us: https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab 21 Apr 2020 15:41:49 PDT

No orcas present. It's been quite the Bigg's week! We haven't had too many sightings out front of the lab, but we have received many reports from Jared Towers in Alert Bay almost each day, as more and more Bigg's travel up from the Salish Sea, through the Johnstone Strait and continue on their way west. Jared writes: "Every spring several groups of Bigg’s killer whales move north up the east side of Vancouver Island in what I call the Salish Sea exodus. It’s a little early this year but with 70 individuals documented swimming past the little island I live on and reports of over 20 others in the area all in the last 7 days, I think it’s the biggest departure yet. T087 here, the eldest male killer whale on record at 63 years of age, practiced a little social distancing when he went past..." In other news, we received a report from Nicole and Bunker that the A25s were seen at Hartley Bay (northern BC coast) on the morning of the 18th April. So great to get news of Northern Resident families over the winter and spring months.  Suzie, Quin and Megan  19 Apr 2020 22:11:59 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby We have Bigg's in Blackney Pass! Watch with us: https://explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base OrcaLab 17 Apr 2020 15:57:21 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby Today is Suzie Halls 27th Birthday, Horrar! To celebrate this, Quin, Suzie and Megan took the Badarka (large three person kayak) out for its first spin in many many years. We headed over to white beach across from Orcalab and searched for sea glass and ate snacks in the sunshine. A little while after around 13:01 we received a report from Helena back in Alert Bay that there were Biggs calls. Lucky we had left a recording going but never the less we jumped into the boat and headed back to the lab. The calls were distant but trailed off into silence around 13:24 according to Helena. As usual assistants from all over the world had chimed in to listen from their computers! We are unsure of the location of the calls or which direction the whales were headed in but hopefully we will hear them again soon. Another exciting adventurous day in Blackney Pass. Happy Birthday to Suzie, Photos to follow soon!  Megan, Quin and Suzie. 16 Apr 2020 12:09:13 PDT