ORCA Updates

Watching orcas in the Salish Sea is often a study in contrasts, and this morning was no exception.

It was an impressive sight to see one of the oldest living Bigg's killer whale females traveling with three adult males!

This guy has been getting a lot of attention of late, thanks in large part to his recent spree of breach fests!

In this short clip from the SIMRES hydrophones in Boundary Pass on August 27th, you can hear the incredibly loud and clear calls from some very chatty whales!

It was music to my ears to hear about a large group of spread out whales inbound towards San Juan Island this morning!

Part of this appreciation has come from our time on the water out of Telegraph Cove, where not only do you see the same cast of characters from year to year, but often with incredible site fidelity...

Present were the T60s with T69D2, our north Vancouver Island summer mainstays, but with them were some rare Ts: T165, T166, T166A1, and T259!

This is humpback whale BCZ0408 Guardian and her 2026 calf in Blackney Passage, BC this morning as Virgin Voyages' new 2025 cruise ship the "Brilliant Lady" transited through.

With some questions about whale-watching on our recent posts on social media, it seemed timely to highlight a paper we published in 2022.

For five trips this month, Monika was a guest guide with Captain Sara, offering a unique perspective to passengers on the intersections between whale research, community science, and ecotourism.

Earlier this month, Washington State Representative Michael Baumgartner introduced H.R. 9621, the so-called “Northwest Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act of 2026”.

We got to see part of a matriline known as Matushka's group, named after presumed matriarch AT109 Matushka (Russian for 'mother') who interestingly enough now travels as a lone female.

He was on the beach for at least 5 hours, but by the late afternoon had successfully rejoined his family.

While they were seen throughout the central Salish Sea, many observers made note of how much time they spent in Bellingham Bay, Washington!

As the T46Bs have been cruising around the San Juan Islands of late, their family group composition has looked a little different!

This year's design features L110 Midnight and was created by an Urban ArtWorks youth muralist who participated in our Orca Action Month campaign.

Thanks to everyone voted, we are happy to present our 2026 Firecraker award to T19B Galiano for having the best breach!

We want to share this short but beautiful tribute to the Southern Resident killer whales that inspired the creation of the Orca Behavior Institute.

We're excited to highlight another artist and share why she chose the specific whale featured in her artwork. Next up is Christine Fowler.

On June 14, Southern Residents returned to the inland waters of the Salish Sea for the first time in 62 days. Amazingly, it was more than 40 whales: J-Pod and the Greater L4 sub-group!

Today we'd like to highlight another of our artists, Stephany Clouatre-Groleau, who is Algonquin from Kitchi Sìbì, the Great River, in what is now known as Ontario.

What if we built 75 life-sized dorsal fins, one for every living Southern Resident orca? What if when people saw one, they were inspired to learn about the whale behind it?

At the beginning of each May is Give Big, a Washington State event that promotes supporting non-profits to invest in the future we want to live in. This year at OBI, we've created our own spin on the event: Give Bigg's!

If you want to see whales and become more involved with conservation efforts, this is the tour for you. A portion of the proceeds from each trip are donated to the Orca Behavior Institute.

As luck would have it, we'd barely puttered out of the Friday Harbor marina before catching the sight of fins along the Shaw Island shoreline. The T49As had stuck around the islands overnight!

What do we know about these whales? What don't we know? Join Monika W. Shields, Director of the Orca Behavior Institute, for a Patreon-exclusive talk about these "truly transient," enigmatic T419s on Monday evening, April 6th, at 6pm PST.

This past Saturday (March 28th) we held our first in-person Bigg's 201 class, and the entire day was fabulous! A surprise group of ten Bigg's killer whales kicked off the morning, spotted from our ferry just outside of Friday Harbor.

Back in 2020, we witnessed an incredible feat. Off Reuben Tarte County Park on San Juan Island, the T123s spent nearly an hour and a half hunting a male Steller, including several full-body rams by T123A Stanley.

The West Coast Transient population has now failed to claim a title in the first six Salish Sea March Madness competitions.

You've all been waiting for it, and it's finally time: our 2026 just-for-fun March Madness bracket starts today! Over the last five years, your votes have helped us crown winning whales in various categories.

Amidst all the excitement about the unusual visitors T419, T420, and T421, we haven't had to chance to share the news of not one but TWO brand new Bigg's killer whale calves seen for the first time within the last week!

We did a Monika's play-by-play yesterday, never anticipating that today might be even crazier! But holy smokes, for anyone who was lucky enough to be viewing whales in or near Admiralty Inlet today, it was one for the record books.

After five decades of research, it’s not often adult killer whales show up in the Salish Sea who don’t match any of the existing photo ID catalogues, but that’s exactly what happened, which explains why this trio of orcas has created quite a stir.

50 years ago today, on March 7th, 1976, six Bigg's killer whales were herded into Budd Inlet near Olympia in Puget Sound. Led by SeaWorld's Don Goldberry and with permit in hand, the "whale cowboys" used helicopters and explosives to corral the orcas before capturing them in a net.

If you’re curious about these fascinating whales, we’d love for you to join us for our first Patreon livestream chat of the year on Monday, March 23, at 6 PM PST.

We're almost halfway through Washington State's legislative session and bills have until February 17th to pass out of their house of origin.

It was a wild morning on the west side of San Juan Island! Between 7 and 9 AM J-Pod calls were clearly audible on the Orcasound hydrophone in Haro Strait.

Here is our side-by-side comparison of Southern Resident killer whale (left) and Bigg's killer whale (right) sightings throughout the Salish Sea for the entirety of 2025.

Last year we had to wait 23 days for our first field encounter with Bigg's killer whales - this year we only had to wait 2!

Important action alert: your comments are needed by December 22nd to help protect the Endangered Species Act!

Most whales born into the population are given the next number in line for their pod, but there have been a couple of exceptions to that rule, and this calf may well be the next one. K45 was born in 2021, but K46 was born in 1974!

When published in this manner, these scientific papers are available to everyone instead of hidden behind a paywall. We firmly believe that continued research and findings on killer whales should be readily accessible to the public without a financial hurdle.

Whether you're looking for Salish Sea Christmas cards or the perfect little gift for the whale lover in your life, we have some great options for you.

While the conventional wisdom is that they vocalize more often during and after hunts, they have for the been completely silent during the events we saw!

For those who may not know, a true Southern Resident superpod occurs when all members of the J, K, and L pods gather together in the same location. That’s 74 whales!

Today we caught up with the T46s and T46B1s in Puget Sound. They were heading north past Seattle at a steady 7+ knots, but were all grouped together which made for an impressive sight when they surfaced!

If you're looking to add more orca-related items to your whale collection, or scouting for unique gift-giving opportunities as the holidays approach, new items have just been added to our online store!

We've compiled books about "solitary sociables"--whales that seek out human interaction after they have been apart from their own species--and will dive into unique and compelling stories centered around orcas Springer, Luna, and Keiko.

Today we were thrilled to encounter a TRUE SUPERPOD while on the water in Puget Sound for our research project with the Center for Whale Research!

Does the time change have you feeling gray? We have a fantastic offer for you to join our exciting, brand-new course!

50 Shades of Gray Whale is a 14-week course designed to deepen appreciation and understanding for gray whales.

Bigg’s 201 is a four-and-a-half month course designed to improve participant’s scientific literacy and give in depth insight to the Bigg’s killer whale population.

If you’re curious about the orca videos created by Jason Shields or have questions about the process, this is the page for you! We asked Jason to answer some of the most common inquiries about his videos.

A T-Party of 33 Bigg's killer whales in Rosario Strait. Present were the T36A1s, T63, T65, T65A5, T75Bs, T90s, T99B, T100s, T101s, T123s, T124Ds, T137s 🤯

Yesterday and today, many observers were lucky enough to spot a brand new calf traveling with the J16s, a particularly hopeful sign after J36 Alki had lost her newborn earlier this month.

For all the moments of joy - and there are a lot of them - there are also moments of significant grief.

No Southern Residents visited the Salish Sea in May, June, or August 2025. Monika takes a moment to reflect on just how much things have changed over the last 20 years.

On September 3rd, Congress is considering H.R. 2073, the “Defending Our Dams Act,” a bill that locks in the failing status quo on the lower Snake River and blocks real solutions for salmon, orcas, and Tribal treaty rights.

This example is August 24th, when we had 12 different groups of Bigg's in the central Salish Sea alone totaling at least 57 animals.

Last night the orca-loving community on San Juan Island gathered at Lime Kiln Lighthouse for sunset with a chance of whales.

75 days after their last confirmed sighting in inland waters...

Today marks 8 week since our last confirmed report of Southern Resident orcas in the inland waters of the Salish Sea. ❤️‍🩹

Help us raise $10k for our 10th and keep an eye on your favorite items over the next few days. The auction ends at 9 PM PST on Sunday!

Over the course of six weeks under the instruction of Sara Shimazu you will learn to draw and paint orcas, ending the class with a finished painting.

Yesterday while on the water with our Bigg's 201 class we came across a humpback that has attained legendary status in the Salish Sea: a 4 year-old whale that is nicknamed Schooner.

We thought we'd like to take time to answer some of the most common questions received on our maps.

Over the last three months, we explored the important but often challenging stories of the orca captivity era in Puget Sound during the 1960s-1970s.

Last Saturday was a whale of a day in the Salish Sea, with confirmed reports of no fewer than 79 killer whales in the region!

How does a weekend camping on San Juan Island, hanging out with OBI, and seeing and talking about whales sound?

We meet the newest member of the Bigg's killer whale population, a calf that appears to be the firstborn of T46B3 Sedna.

To make it to the central Salish Sea this morning after last being seen in Monterey on March 10th, K-Pod transited nearly 1000 miles in just 11 days. That's an average of about 90 miles a day!

Yesterday's afternoon on the water was so remarkable it deserves its own mini-map as a summary!

The dramatic light made it an even more impressive sight. It was our first time getting to meet the newest calf, little J62!

Are you thinking about joining Bluesky? Several whale groups are making the jump!

Commercial finfish aquaculture has been banned in Washington state-owned aquatic lands!

Our current count is 37 whales! It's by far the largest group of Bigg's we've encountered in 2024. Here's Jason's video highlight compilation from our memorable encounter.

Ensure Washington State makes the non-native finfish aquaculture ban permanent!

"It's too many whales to be just K-Pod...it's too many males to be just J-Pod... WHO ARE YOU?!"

From everything we've seen and heard so far this season, chum salmon are returning in huge numbers...

We caught up with the pair at San Juan County Park. Just as surprising as the calf was perhaps the fact that there were no other whales in sight...

There are a lot of fan favorites among the T49As, but this is an appreciation post for one of the members who doesn't get as much attention, T49A5 Nebula.

After two weeks off the north end of Vancouver Island we are back home in the Salish Sea but with lots of data and media to process from 17 total encounters with Northern Resident killer whales. Check out our video!

This was a morning I will not soon forget! It was the first day of our 2024 time in Telegraph Cove and we got to meet up with the A34s. While shut down we were able to drop our hydrophone and listen in to their calling back and forth.

Since at least July 22nd, T65A5 Indy has been traversing the Salish Sea on his own and has been busy "doing Indy things", according to many of those who have been lucky enough to see him!

On the afternoon of May 30th, a group of Bigg's killer whales were picked up outside of Friday Harbor. Of course, tracking killer whale sightings the way we do, I was curious to find out who they were. When a friend messaged me and said "T19B is here" I said: "Impossible!" But, there he was!

The T146s, rarely seen in the Salish Sea, showed up this week, as did the T146As who as far as know have not been documented in the Salish Sea before!

The T90s were seen off the Oregon Coast on April 24 and made it Sidney Spit by April 29!

T46D, Strider, is has always been a bit of a wanderer. For those who were concerned, we got confirmation of his whereabouts! Thanks to photos taken by Jason Duncan and shared by Comox Valley Wildlife Sightings.

Update: Center for Whale Research has reported that calf J60 was not seen during their January 27th encounter with J-Pod.

Our consecutive days of confirmed Bigg's killer whales in the Salish Sea streak came to an end.