October 2025
Did it feel like there were fewer orcas around this October? If you thought so, you were right! Sightings were down for both Bigg’s killer whales and Southern Resident killer whales compared to the same month in 2024.
After being seen a couple of times out west early in the month, the SRKW were mostly absent throughout October until the final week of the month when Js came in followed a few days later by Ks followed a few days later by Ls. While we usually associate autumn with Southern Residents in Puget Sound, each south made a “left” turn to the north instead, heading up to the Strait of Georgia first. On the 31st, Js and Ks came down San Juan Channel and Ls down Haro Strait, finally entering Puget Sound late that evening. The entire Southern Resident population came “in”, but weren’t ever actually all together at any point, precluding a true superpod, which has yet to occur in inland waters in 2025.
On the Bigg’s killer whale front, October was the third month of the year where sightings were lower than 2024, and fell by the largest margin of the year with 34 fewer sightings than last year. Remember we count a sighting as a unique group seen on a unique day, with the first sighting location for each group on each day shown on the map; the map doesn’t represent everywhere killer whales traveled in October.
We *barely* kept our 2025 consecutive day streak alive for Bigg’s! This month it was T49A2 Jude and T65A5 Indy who kept us in the game in terms of our quest to confirm the presence of Bigg’s in the Salish Sea on all 365 days of the year, as there was one day where they were the only whales we could confirm in the Salish Sea from that population. In addition to that duo traversing the central Salish Sea (can you say “double trouble”?!), other highlights of the month included the return of the T30Bs and T34s/T37s after long absences, uncommon visitors siblings T38C and T38E making the rounds, and the expected fall appearance of the T252s in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
And don’t count out the Northern Resident killer whales! After unexpectedly being around a lot in September, there continued to be a few reports of the A5 Pod in October as well, including as far south as Galiano Island. It will be fascinating to see if they continue inching their way further south and taking up greater presence in the Strait of Georgia in the months and years ahead.
What’s our prediction for November? While based for most of the month in Puget Sound, we are certainly hoping for a repeat of last year where November was the top month of the year for SRKW presence in the Salish Sea. Chum salmon forecasts are solid, if not quite as high as last year, so we have fingers crossed all three pods will make forays in the southern Salish Sea. If other patterns hold, Bigg’s sightings will continue to fall off a bit for the winter, in part due to decreased overall presence during this season but also due to fewer eyes on the water, reduced daylight hours, and deteriorating weather.
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