December 2021
Here is your map for December orca sightings in the Salish Sea! The Southern Residents weren't around quite as much as November, but did spend some time in Puget Sound. The Northern Residents made one appearance in the northern Strait of Georgia and Bigg's killer whales continued to be seen throughout the region. One notable report was the T68Cs spending nearly five weeks in Hood Canal between the end of November and the end of December.
In the end, it was by far a record year for Bigg's, with 1067 confirmed sighting smashing the previous record of 747 set in 2019. Despite being around regularly for the last four month of the year, it was a record low for Southern Resident presence, coming in at just over 100 days for 2021.
A huge thank you to all who make this type of whale tracking possible, including Orca Network and Pacific Whale Watch Association - PWWA and of course OBI's Tomislav Flip who creates these maps for us. Many localized regions have their own sightings networks, too, and also generously share their reports with us. If you live in one of these areas, you may want to join your local page to see more whales in 2022 and contribute to community science efforts! These pages include:
Puget Sound Whale Sightings
Comox Valley Wildlife Sightings
Comox Valley Marine & Wildlife
Sunshine Coast Whale and Dolphin Sightings
Whale Spotting Powell River/qathet
