Sea
Orcas: 3 Live Cameras — Johnstone Strait
Three cameras in British Columbia, Canada. One follows the pods from a research station; two watch the beach where orcas rub themselves on the pebbles.
What you can see
Three cameras sit around Johnstone Strait in British Columbia. The Northern Resident pods of this water have been studied for more than fifty years, and the three cameras show different parts of their lives.
Hanson Island orcas (OrcaLab) follows the pods circling the island from the research station there. Humpbacks, dolphins, sea lions and eagles come into the same frame.
The Robson Bight rubbing beach shows from the shore a beach the orcas have used for generations. Through the summer they spend long stretches rubbing their bodies on the smooth pebbles.
The rubbing beach underwater camera is the same beach seen from in the water, catching a rubbing orca side-on. This behaviour belongs to these pods alone, and whole families come and take their turn.
The two beach cameras are the shore and underwater views of one place, so opened together they both catch the moment an animal drops from the surface.
Cameras you can watch now: 3
All 3 are live video. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Live video, best in summer
Orcas off Hanson Island (OrcaLab)
British Columbia, Hanson Island · Wildlife · Sea
From a research station on Hanson Island, following the families of orcas that travel around the island. This population, the Northern Residents, has been watched here for more than fifty years. Humpbacks, dolphins, sea lions and eagles come into the same frame.
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Live video, July-September
The orcas' rubbing beach
British Columbia, Johnstone Strait · Wildlife · Sea
A beach in the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve on Johnstone Strait that the orcas have used for as long as anyone has watched. Through the summer they spend a remarkable amount of time rubbing their bodies along the smooth pebbles. The operator suggests July through September.
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Live video, July-September
Rubbing beach, underwater
British Columbia, Johnstone Strait · Wildlife · Sea
The same beach seen from under the water, so an orca rubbing against the stones passes side-on. The behaviour is unique to this population, and whole families take their turn at it.
When to watch
The two rubbing beach cameras are best from July to September, the season the provider gives. OrcaLab is described as monitoring most intensively through the summer. So all three are summer cameras.
The offset is 16 hours in summer. Local 06:00 is 22:00 in Japan, local noon is 04:00 the next day and local 20:00 is 12:00. So the Japanese night through the following midday is the lit part of their day — as overseas cameras go, an easy one to watch from Japan in the evening.
Summer days are long in British Columbia; light lingers until around 21:00 local.
The underwater camera depends on how murky the water is rather than on the weather. It goes white after rain or on a choppy day. And the orcas do not come to the beach on demand — while the pods are elsewhere, the beach stays empty.
If it isn't showing
All three also appear on the Canada page. Sea cameras are gathered under Sea, and for Japanese water and fish the closest pages are The Kuroshio Coast and The Seto Inland Sea.
Canada also has Polar Bears and Aurora. Their seasons are all different, which makes Canada a country worth opening several times a year.
Choosing an hour to open them is covered in Which cameras are in daylight now.
Where to find Orcas
Agencies publishing the cameras on this page
- explore.org (Deep links and embeds OK, no image reuse) — Official site
The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.