July 23 2020 Orcas: A30s Humpbacks: Squiggle, Argonaut After yesterday’s excitement with members of K & L pod Southern Residents, today felt like a reset as we wait for what is to come. The A30s very likely spent the night east, after traveling alongside (yet at a distance from) the Southern Resident groups. Who knows how long they spent on the same trajectory before the groups diverged? Who knows what the two populations think when they inhabit the same space? The very excited A30 calls we heard yesterday as the Southern Residents approached surely tell a whole story; but in a language we do not speak… and so goes the mysterious and wonderful world of orca communications! In the early morning the A30s had decided to come back to the west, as they were seen traveling past Boat Bay on Cracroft Island at 9:36am. They made a bee-line for Blackney Pass, keeping close to the Cracroft Shore. The tide was ebbing pretty quickly and they actually came in a lot sooner than we were anticipating. We saw the first fins already halfway through the pass at 11:12am. They made a swift and fairly far-sided passing, having all cleared into Blackfish Sound by 11:20am. They were spread out, and although we didn’t identify every individual we are confident that there were enough orcas in the mix to be all of the A30s. They barely called the whole time they were in range of our hydrophones, and we heard the last faint call and echolocation just after 11:30am. That was it for orcas for the day! We later received a report that the A30s were into Queen Charlotte Strait. We wonder if they will head out and shepherd in a new group or two on these big tides, as has been tradition for a good few years. Quin, Suzie and Megan headed off to do some laundry for the afternoon (it may sound mundane but after a while in remote locations, little luxuries like freshly-laundered sheets are a very exciting event). Paul, Helena and Janie kept busy at the lab, and identified Argonaut the humpback who was hanging out in Blackney Pass for a while. The day finished with a delicious roasted aubergine, sea asparagus and fresh salad dinner, followed by a not-at-all-burnt fruit drizzle cake - all lovingly made by Megan. Tonight, we will tuck ourselves into fresh bed sheets and wait to see if the A30s return, and who they may bring with them!  Orcalab 23 Jul 2020 22:08:49 PDT

No orcas present. July 21 2020: A30s (A54s, A50s), among the Southern Residents Jared Towers identified: K16s,K21,L55s, L87 Right now the the beautiful evening is peaceful, colourful and serene and belies the great excitement of the day - another visit from the Southern Resident orcas! This time it was mostly the Ls, whereas, previously it had been the Ks. One of the Explore audience commented “who is next, the Js?” So what did the Northern Residents do today? We became aware of the A30s around midnight after they passed south through Blackney Pass, past Cracroft Point and then to the Ecological Reserve. Just before 1am they were close to Robson Bight. They did not hesitate but kept going east from there. Unfortunately, after 1am their trail went cold for us. We did not pick up on any activity at the rubbing beaches. We only picked them up again at 4:07am when we clued into their calls. They were still in the vicinity of the Ecological Reserve. But the calls were distant. Were they crossing over closer to the Cracroft Island shore?, or perhaps heading east in the middle of the Strait? It was a long time before their presence was known again. At 11:53am the Cliff reported that the A30s were passing Boat Bay on the Cracroft Island side and travelling west. By this time Paul and Megan had already left for the Ecological Reserve to work on the cameras at Strider and Main and check on the equipment at Critical Point in the Bight and visit Cracroft Point. It was great that the whales had chosen the opposite shore for their travel and so there was no chance of Megan and Paul’s activity disturbing them (or vice versa). There was a singular report from Queen Charlotte Strait that a young lone Bigg’s orca was there. Jared Towers had a couple of guesses who it might be as a couple of individuals are known to travel on their own. Last year we became reacquainted with Sam (T46C2) who ever since her escapades years before has tended to travel on her own from time to time. Not sure if there was any clarification about the identity of this errant orca but we will try to find out. By this time the activity in the Strait was beginning to warm up. The A30s were split into their two groups, the A50s and the A54s. The A50s were the first “up” the Strait getting as far as the Sophias before crossing over to Kaizumi, the little rubbing beach west of the Reserve on the Vancouver Island side, at 12:50pm. While they enjoyed the beach starting at 1:54pm, the A54s were crossing the Bight. The A50s made some very beautiful calls while at this beach around 2:17pm. The A54s, meanwhile, followed the Vancouver Island shore line and went into Kaizumi by 3:21pm. They became quite excited. What was up? Did they suddenly hear the Southern Residents, who had travelled past Alert Bay, and had entered the Strait? Was that possible? One of the whale watch boats mentioned that the Southern Residents had been vocal. Jared Towers had seen the Southern Residents pass his house in Alert Bay. By 4:17pm, these visiting, or more accurately passing through orcas had reached Blinkhorn Peninsula. Blinkhorn is west of the most western part of Hanson Island and in range of our hydrophone network. We did not hear any calls. Likewise, the Northern Resident went quiet as well. The Southern Residents were steaming, averaging a steady 10 knots as they followed the Vancouver Island shore east. We could just make out their distant blows on the remote camera as they were very close to the far shore. They were unimpeded by the A30s who smartly crossed back to the Cracroft Island shore and set about going east as well. The parade of two different orca communities continued right on “down” the Strait. They were running pretty much parallel to each other the entire time and still no calls. The Southern Residents passed Kaizumi at 4:55pm and the Western Boundary of the Reserve by 5:11pm. The A30s passed under the Cliff at 5:15pm and continued on to Boat Bay. The Southern Residents passed Critical Point very close with their dorsal fins and blows highlighted by the late afternoon light at 5:44pm. By now the A30s had already passed Boat Bay. We turned on the Strider Rubbing Beach camera and waited. We could see that the Southern Residents were holding their course close to shore and their distant blows steadily came closer and closer. The whales were in two closely formed lines and surfacing at the same time. About 25 in all. It was impressive. Their pace had slowed somewhat but still no calls, just a bit of echolocation. From 6pm on they passed by the Main Rubbing Beach. No rubs, of course as the Southern Residents do not have this behavioural tradition. Truly, they were on their way along with their distant Northern Resident escorts who were still on the other side. We have not heard the A30s return and suspect the Southern Residents will eventually return to the San Juan area. What a day! You new know what or who might come around the corner! OrcaLab 22 Jul 2020 22:24:07 PDT No calls but orcas nearby Watching the Ls head east in Johnstone Strait very quickly along the Vancouver Island shore. The Northern Resident A30 matriline are on the Cracroft Island shore opposite also going east. No calls from either. Helena 22 Jul 2020 17:21:45 PDT

No orcas present. July 21 2020 Orcas: A50s and A54s (fairly confident no 75s) Wow - are we glad we have the new camera at Strider Rubbing Beach! What an afternoon. But first, let’s backtrack a little. Following a quiet night, we all woke feeling well-rested and ready for the day. A first in what feels like forever! Quin and Megan made a plan to head to some of our remote stations and work on some radio links. They disappeared into the fog at 11am, leaving Paul, Helena and Suzie alone at the lab. Their work involved a large amount of tree-climbing on Quin’s part, and they arrived back about 7 hours later totally exhausted but pleased with a successful day of tinkering. Good job you two! Just before their departure, we started hearing A1 calls in Blackfish Sound at 10:06am. It took them quite a while, but they gradually made their way south and into our view - except our view was obscured in fog! Just as the fog began to dissipate, Suzie caught sight of the orcas right out front, already half way through at 11:30am. She noted that the calls were A30s but these did not look like the A50s, who we have become so accustomed to in recent days… it was the A54s! It has been about two weeks since we saw them, so this was a treat. We noted the absence of the A75s (a sub-matriline of the 54s) and we believe that they were not around all day. We started hearing A54 calls as they cleared into the Johnstone Strait, giving us a really nice recording of them as a separate matriline to the A50s. And so, the acoustic work begins… We were still hearing A30 calls in Blackfish Sound and - sure enough - at 11:57am the A50s came past the lab, also heading south. A84, A50 and her new baby were really nice and close, it was a lovely passing. All orcas headed into the Strait, and started to make their way east towards the Ecological Reserve. We lost their calls for a bit. We left the lab around 1:30pm and did some other tasks, keeping an ear on the hydrophones. Suzie heard loud calls at 2:24pm, and assumed they must have made it to Robson Bight. Wrong! They had totally bypassed the Bight and headed straight for the rubbing beaches. She loaded Strider rubbing camera and - goodness gracious - so many fins in view! Both the A50s and A54s were cruising up and down that short stretch of beach, grazing their bodies along the smooth pebbles. We have never seen anything quite like it (but we expect much more to come this summer!). They rubbed for about 40 minutes and we got some incredible footage of this unique spectacle. They headed west again shortly after 3pm, and we continued to hear faint calls in the Strait again. At 4.20pm, we actually heard loud calls still around Robson Bight ,suggesting the the whales were spread out with some hanging back as the rest headed west. Shortly afterwards, at 4:34pm, we also heard faint calls off Cracroft Point and Parson Island, indicating that some orcas had made it west to the Cracroft Point range. The two groups continued to be very spread out in the Strait! We believe the leading group continued to forage and mill around the entrance to Blackney Pass for an hour, probably waiting for the tailing group who were still heading west from the Bight. We thought that all were heading west in Johnstone Strait as we had saw them cross the entrance to Blackney Pass mid strait. But at 5:32pm we heard loud calls on Parson Island - they were coming into view again, this time heading north! The A54s came in first, spread out closer to the Parson Island shore. Not long after, the A50s also came into view. They were closer to Hanson Island and ended up clearing our view first around 6pm. The 54s were very spread out as they passed, but we heard echolocation and saw them foraging for a good while - always a promising sight. Still did not find the A75s (Cedar and her two young ones). We monitored their lovely calls as they passed our Flower Island hydrophone, and tracked them north in Blackfish Sound until 7pm when we last heard them. We are very fond of these two matrilines as they have been the first to arrive and stay in the area for many years now and although their movements are far from predictable; we certainly always expect the beginnings of summer to feature the A30s! We hope you enjoyed the footage at Strider if you tuned in with us - we will share a short clip in a little while for those who missed it.  Suzie 21 Jul 2020 21:04:15 PDT

No orcas present. July 20 2020: A50s; HB: Squiggle When we left off yesterday the A50s, by midnight, had entered Johnstone Strait after coming through Blackney Pass. They headed east toward the Reserve and to our surprise after passing the eastern headland of Robson Bight (Critical Point) they went to the Main Rubbing Beach. From 1:03am till almost 2am they remained in this area having a fairly good rub. There were close calls, echolocation, rub sounds more than once, and lots and lots of swirling water sounds. From the Main Beach we believe they went east. At 6:34am the Wardens, still at their Boat Bay camp, saw the A50s travelling west on the Cracroft Island side. We then saw them at 8:17am as they moved north through Blackney Pass. After their passing we continued to hear calls and echo location in Blackfish Sound until 1:03pm. By then Paul, Megan and Suzie had readied for a trip to the Reserve to work on the installation of the Strider underwater camera. They notified the Wardens at 12pm that they were entering the Reserve. With the whales seemingly stuck in Blackfish Sound they could work without the worry of disturbing the whales. Quin and Helena were likewise busy but careful to watch and listen for the whales. At 3:38pm Squiggle the Humpback came close to the Lab moving in both directions before submerging and moving on. Squiggle’s dorsal fin has changed a lot over the past two years and is now flattened out with visible scar tissue. A short while later, at 3:51pm, we began to hear A30 (A50) calls once again in Blackfish Sound. These calls seemed to indicate that the whales were travelling east toward Blackney Pass. We found them on the remote Sea lion camera. They were still some distance away. We could just make out their shapes and blows as they travelled closely together. When they came into view at 4:34pm we switched and followed them on the base camera until well along in the Pass. We then switched to the Sea Lion camera once again to follow them through the rest of the Pass. Quin had cued the next camera which showed the whales headed for the entrance to Blackney Pass. Briefly we saw them off of Cracroft Point. They were busy sorting themselves out by this time going in several directions. Then we lost them entirely. There were no calls to give us clues and in the end we surmized that maybe they went off to the west again. It was now 5:15pm. Just after 8pm, Beck from Farewell Harbour called to report seeing 10 -15 orcas in Blackfish Sound. It looked like they were headed east. This was exciting! Were the A50s about to have company? Had they met up with other orcas? Had the rest of their family, the A54s, finally returned? We heard a few A30 calls and even some echo location and then nothing! The whales never came as far as Blackney Pass. With Paul, Suzie and Megan back home we all enjoyed a quick dinner of salmon sandwiches. The long day tugged at everyone’s energy, and except for those minding the Lab, it was off to bed, hopefully to get some rest before the whales return! OrcaLab 20 Jul 2020 23:18:37 PDT Orcas near mics. The A30s are headed east in Blackfish Sound. Will be in view soon, https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Orcalab 20 Jul 2020 16:31:09 PDT No calls but orcas nearby July 19 2020: A50s Our story for this day begins in Blackfish Sound. Just before and after midnight we were hearing the A30s and by 1:34am they had made their way through Blackney Pass and were approaching Johnstone Strait. They made several minutes of clear calls while negotiating the entrance to Blackney Pass. From there, just after 2am, they headed east past Cracroft Point on their way to the Reserve. Signal interference prevented us from fully following their movements but we caught enough snatches of their calls between the signal ups and downs to understand that they were headed to Robson Bight. By 4:36am, with the signal from the Robson Bight hydrophone becoming steady once more, our patience and those listening was rewarded by some truly lovely calls from the whales in the Bight. Before 5am (4:49am) they slipped past the Critical Point headland only to return at 6:04am to the same spot. The now ebbing tide encouraged them to head westward. Their close calls became distant and then dropped off entirely. We were next aware of them in Blackfish Sound once more at 8:23am. Presumably they had gone through Weynton Passage after travelling west in Johnstone Strait. The A50s stayed in Blackfish Sound until almost until 3pm moving between Bold and Donegal Heads. We had to endure really horrible boat noise from a couple of sports boats who were motoring right next to the Flower Island hydrophone. We didn’t want to miss calls so suffered through the noise. At 2:53pm the A50s travelled through Blackney Pass once more, just over 12 hours since their last tour. This time, once they got to Johnstone Strait, they milled about briefly before turning west and heading to Weynton Pass again. Their circuit brought them back to Blackfish Sound just before 9pm. To our surprise they were back in Blackney by 9:25pm. Clustered together they steadily travelled south to the Strait through the very beautiful evening light that bathed everything, islands, ocean, sky. The A50s were in the Strait before long (just after 10pm). Their next steps were to head east to the Ecological Reserve (again!). OrcaLab 20 Jul 2020 02:54:07 PDT

No calls but orcas nearby The A50s just through Blackney on a flooding tide. They were mid channel moving quickly. Now headed to the entrance of Blackney Pass. Orcalab 19 Jul 2020 15:01:53 PDT Superb sounds!! The A30's have finally made it into the bight and we are hearing some really lovely calls right now!  Megan 19 Jul 2020 04:37:41 PDT

Distant calls audible. Summary for 18 July 2020 Orcas: A50s and A54s Today has been relatively quiet, with all of the orca activity happening overnight. Shortly after midnight, the silky silence was broken by clear, vibrant A30 calls in Blackney Pass! Given how loud the calls came in, we believe that they had passed us right out front of the lab, in from Blackfish Sound. We cannot say for certain whether this was the A50s or A54s (or both!), as the two groups were sighted later in the day. The orcas made their way down Johnstone Strait, drawing steadily closer to Robson Bight. We heard echolocation as they travelled. Around 3am, we were hearing close and distant A30 echolocation and calls in the Johnstone Strait. This likely means that the whales were separate from one another, spread out as they foraged. Shortly before 4am, the calls started getting more distant. We did not hear anything at the Main Rubbing Beach, and they remained very faint in the Johnstone Strait until 4:30am when we heard much clearer calls on Cracroft Point. A-ha! They had turned west and likely crossed back over the Strait to the Cracroft shore, given the intensity of their calls. We heard some beautiful calls as they travelled into Blackney Pass around 4:50am - just evading our gaze as the dawn had not yet begun! Their passing was brief, and we heard them in Blackfish Sound shortly after 5am. Not ten minutes later, a beautiful sunrise emerged from Harbledown Island bringing warmth to these beautiful calls. Unfortunately, a very loud speedboat engine entered the scene at around 5:17am, and the orcas appeared to fall silent. We heard only a few more distant calls until 5:36am, leaving only boat noise in the mix. That was it for orcas for the day! We received a report that the A50s and A54s were seen at the Foster Islands heading west at 3.30pm, but other than that it was very quiet. Megan and Quin went to run errands in town, Helena organized the wood store, Suzie sifted through lots of photos, and Paul worked more on our new local hydrophone - with the help of Matchu who came over from Double Bay. Matchu stayed for dinner, and we enjoyed spaghetti and salad on the deck so we could eat together whilst respecting social distancing rules. We are all taking care of one another as we enter the summer with this unseasonably small team, and look forward to sharing more updates with you as things progress. Update: Just as I reached the end of this summary, we started hearing faint A30 calls in Blackfish Sound at 10:54pm. Once again masked by unruly boat noise, but we know they are in there somewhere!  Suzie 18 Jul 2020 23:03:07 PDT Superb sounds!! Beautiful calls right now! OrcaLab 18 Jul 2020 05:13:44 PDT Distant calls audible. Listening to the A30s in Johnstone Strait through the night, now on a journey west toward Cracroft Point.  Orcalab 18 Jul 2020 04:39:37 PDT

Summary for 17 July 2020 Orcas: A50s Humpbacks: Guardian Right after we posted our last update, we had a very special occurrence in the lab with a Humpback very close to the hydrophone near Parson Island around 10pm. There were some amazing sounds, some of which were intriguing. More on that later. We also heard some monumental underwater crashes as the Humpback breached a few times close by. The A50s completed their Tour-De-Blackney with a seventh passing, just before midnight. Helena was in the lab listening to their faint calls in Blackfish Sound before they briefly fell silent. By chance, Suzie was walking to the lab at 11:57pm for her shift and heard the unmistakable sound of orca blows reverberating round the trees over a calm, flat ocean. Listening to blows at night really is something special. She tracked the sounds as they moved south, and by 12:07am they were calling on our Parson Island hydrophone. It was an amazing recording and we do indeed believe it was the A50s again, as opposed to the A54s - both of whom are very acoustically similar. But the A54s,unlike the A50s, were not in the vicinity all day. Their calls were steady throughout the night, and we traced their movements down Johnstone Strait as they headed east into Robson Bight, then toward the rubbing beach, then back to the west again. We heard them echolocate in and around the Bight - a favourite spot for a midnight snack! By 6:12am they were all the way west in Johnstone Strait, and we lost their calls for a couple of hours. By 8:16am they had made it through Weynton Passage, and were back within range of our Flower Island hydrophone in Blackfish Sound. At this point, we are always on tenterhooks to see whether the orcas will head back out west, or loop round Hanson and come our way again. After a few hours of sporadic calls masked by boat noise, we finally heard a report over the VHF that the A50s were at Bold Head, angling towards Blackney Pass. It is always nice when we have a little time to prepare! The next hour was drowned in a HUGE amount of boat noise, as a large tug-and-barge, two smaller barges and many pleasure craft made the rounds on all of our hydrophones. At 11:48am Suzie caught sight of the orca very far away on Sea Lion Camera, which can see into Blackfish Sound. She figured we must have a little while before they come into view… Wrong! (Oh the joys of “perspective” between each of our remote cameras.) She looked up and saw a family of orcas right out front, seemingly shoulder-to-shoulder with the giant log barge. It is quite a harrowing sight, watching these monstrous vessels tear through the water amidst such a bounty of marine life. We quickly confirmed these as the A50s once again, and they zoomed through Blackney Pass on the flooding tide. We did hear their calls but they were so drowned out by the tug’s engine that they were difficult to decipher. By 12:15pm, the A50s had made it into Johnstone Strait and we saw them foraging in the rather impressive rip current & waves off Cracroft Point. We lost sight (and sound) of them for a little while, and received a report at 2:07pm that they had been seen heading west again in the Strait. Suzie and Megan went for a dive out in front of the lab on today’s slack tide at 4:30pm. We are installing a new local hydrophone and they managed to find a secure spot for it about 100ft from our deck. We have greatly missed the opportunity to listen to the orcas’ calls whilst watching them out front, as our “local left” hydrophone gave up the ghost in the winter months. We still have a little tinkering to do to get it into the mix - but fingers crossed that should be up and running very soon. With no warning whatsoever, Helena spotted the A50s in Blackney Pass, heading north at 5:20pm! They must have turned back east in the Strait earlier, and been silent as they passed our CP and Parson hydrophones. Suzie didn’t even have time to change out of her drysuit, as we all gathered on the deck once more to watch them. They were all close together, porpoising and speeding through the crashing waves. When ebb current meets westerly wind there is quite an impressive chop out front: one can only imagine that it must be fun to be a whale at times like that. We have had no calls or sightings since then, and we still don’t know the whereabouts of the large group of A and G clan orcas seen off Port Hardy two days ago… perhaps tonight will be the night they pay us a visit? Orcalab  17 Jul 2020 21:28:31 PDT Boat noise The A50s are headed south in Blackney Pass right now. Horrible boat boise from the Seaspan Royal. They have fallen behind the tug mid channel. View on explore.org Orcalab 17 Jul 2020 11:57:17 PDT Superb sounds!! Beautiful A30 calls in Blackney Pass right now! www.orca-live.net/community Suzie 17 Jul 2020 00:10:07 PDT

Superb sounds!! We have begun to hear, after all that boat noise, some whistles and echo location in Blackfish Sound. Perhaps the A50s are still not too far away! Helena 16 Jul 2020 23:29:08 PDT Boat noise Summary for 16 July 2020 Orcas: A50s Humpbacks: Guardian, Stitch, Argonaut Back and forth, back and forth… it has been one of those days. As avid tennis fans, we can’t help but feel that today has been like one long tennis match - watching the same family of orcas cross the lab six times in the space of an afternoon! Wimbledon was cancelled this year, but this felt like the next best thing (albeit a disappointing lack of Roger Federer in Blackney Pass.) The day started like many before it: shrouded in fog! It was a beautiful, calm scene. Paul and Quin headed off early to Parson Island to replace a radio link, with the hope of improving our network connection and speeding things up a little. (I think the jury is still out on that one, it is too soon to tell…) As the bright sun burned through the haze in Blackney Pass, we received an exciting report that around FIFTY orcas were seen yesterday up in Gordon Channel, near Port Hardy. Jared Towers confirmed all of the A4s, G17s, A23s, A25s, A54s, I4s and Andrew Jone saw the I65s earlier.- what an impressive gathering! We hoped very much they would make their way east and we’d be seeing or hearing them before too long. At 10:39am we heard our first calls in Blackfish Sound - faint echolocation and A1 calls. A few minutes later, and those signature “N47” calls of the A30s could be heard, meaning that either the A50s or A54s were close by. Some of our hydrophones struggled as the morning progressed. We are still tweaking the set-up of our new digital array. We lost the A30 calls for a while, and wondered if they had headed into Johnstone Strait, which we could not near as our Critical Point hydrophone was down. At 12:44pm we heard their calls again - slightly closer this time! We waited, patiently, and sure enough the orcas drifted into our view just before 2pm. Our local lab hydrophone is currently down, too, so we are acoustically “blind” right out front, but fortunately we could ID these orcas very easily, as they are well-known. Can you guess? Yep - the A50s! With the presence of A72 and her front-side dorsal nick, A50 and her new baby, and A84 a “sprouting” male - this group of six are one of the most recognizable. They spent about 90 mins cruising through Blackney Pass, and had made their way into Johnstone Strait by 2:20pm where we picked up their vocalizations once more. We thought they might head east to the rubbing beaches, or perhaps west to wait for some more groups… nope - they spent about 30 minutes foraging and then headed straight back into Blackney Pass, this time heading north. They cleared into Blackfish Sound at 3:37pm. Passing number two. We all returned to our daily duties - Helena on the lasagne sauce for tonight’s dinner (always exquisite), Suzie sorting out the myriad of spices we seem to have accumulated and Quin, Paul and Megan setting up our new local lab hydrophone… yet again only 30 minutes passed before the A50s were back in front of the lab, heading south at 4:08pm! They swung so close to our Sea Lion camera and round Licka Point, a favourite trajectory of this matriline. We got some really lovely recordings of them on Parson Island, which will be very useful in our efforts to acoustically distinguish the A50s and A54s. Passing number three. As they came into view on our Cracroft Point remote camera around 4:30pm, they were joined by Guardian the humpback who was also foraging in the rip current. As we tracked the orcas, we caught some lovely shots of Guardian breaching, fluking and rolling with the orcas in the background. There was even a little breach from A50s baby! We lost sight of the A50s in the haze on CP camera, and they had stopped calling. Guardian continued to breach in Johnstone Strait - we counted six in a row alongside many more over the next fifteen minutes! At one point, she breached right as the Alaska Ferry travelled east in the Strait. It was a very poignant scene in the wake of a recent humpback death due to a ferry strike, down in Washington State. Guardian (unharmed) continued to distract our attention as the A50s turned once again, and headed into Blackney Pass at 5:15pm! They must have headed in a lot earlier as they were already nearly clear of our view to the north by the time we spotted them. They were fairly far away but close together, and entered Blackfish Sound at 5:25pm. We decided to eat dinner fairly early, and the lasagne went into the oven at 5:46pm (a very important moment so it, too, gets a time-stamp). As we were laying the table and preparing to feast, we received a report from the Wardens of the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve - on their way back from town at that moment - that there were six or so orcas in Blackfish Sound heading towards the lab, close to the Hanson Island shore. We laughed, plated up our dinner and went to eat in the lab, eyes peeled. Helena saw them on Sea Lion Camera - which can see further into the Sound than we can - and they were so close to Hanson. We had mere minutes to get assembled on the deck at the camera controls, before the A50s passed by us once more for the fifth time today at 6:41pm. It was a magical scene as they cruised by us in a resting line. We captured some beautiful footage on our stills camera, Base Cam and remote Sea Lion Cam. Hopefully you were watching with us! They cleared into Johnstone Strait once more just after 7pm. The fifth passing. We are very grateful that the wardens tipped us off, otherwise we may have missed it whilst stuffing ourselves full of lasagne. We heard their sporadic calls on Parson Island. There were a few calls on the Cracroft Point hydrophone as they neared the Strait. A burst of calls that gained in strength and echo location signalled their turn back into Blackney Pass. We saw them briefly heading back but then they fell silent and we lost sight of them shortly after. We started to wind down for the night, keeping our eyes on the water just in case. At 8:54pm we got a report from Matchu who was at Flower Island at the time, that a group of orcas had just passed him, heading northwest. … a few minutes later we heard A50 calls again in Blackfish Sound. We had missed the sixth passing! So 6-5 to the A50s was the final score as the night came in (and who knows, maybe they have silently passed again as I’ve been writing this!) but it was truly a wonderful day. No sign of the many other groups of whales spotted further west yesterday, but perhaps that story will unfold in tandem with the night… We are now enjoying beautiful humpback vocalizations and breaching sounds in Blackney Pass, tune in with us if you are able!  Suzie 16 Jul 2020 22:38:19 PDT Superb sounds!! Humpback vocalizations and breaching sounds on Parson Island in Blackney Pass! www.orca-live.net/community/ Suzie 16 Jul 2020 22:06:27 PDT No calls but orcas nearby Orcas are in view! At least the A30s are heading our way. Watch with us: https://www.explore.org/livecams/orcas/orcalab-base Suzie 16 Jul 2020 13:55:59 PDT Superb sounds!! We have some nice A1 calls and echolocation right now :) Listen with us: www.orca-live.net/community/ Suzie 16 Jul 2020 13:36:17 PDT