September 2025
Look at all those colors on the map! Finally it's not just "red" for Bigg's, but our look back at September killer whale sightings in the Salish Sea includes a fair number of reports of both Southern Resident killer whales (blue) and Northern Resident killer whales (yellow), both of whom had been a bit more absent than expected over the summer but went some unexpected places last month.
For the ninth straight month of 2025 we were able to confirm the presence of Bigg's killer whales every single day. Special shout out to T49C Neilson who made an appearance on a bad weather day at the end of the month to keep the streak alive!
While year-to-date Bigg's sightings are ahead of 2024, September was actually the third month of the year where the number of sightings (defined as a unique group seen on a unique day) were lower than the same month last year. It was actually the biggest drop we had seen, with 190 sightings in September 2025 compared to 224 sightings in September 2024. What does it mean? Probably nothing too significant: perhaps the weather was a little worse this year hindering reports, or perhaps it's an indication that Bigg's may finally be maxing out with their presence here? But every time we consider that might be happening, they go and set some more sightings records...
One highlight of the month on the Bigg's front was the addition of another new calf, who has received the designation T46B1D. September also saw the return of the T35As and T37As to the Salish Sea for the first time since January. On one memorable day, most of the extended T109 family was in the Strait of Juan de Fuca: the T109s, T109As, T109Bs, and T109Ds. Only the T109A2s were missing. Sadly, there was no sign of orphaned calf T109A3A (aka Kʷiisaḥiʔis or Brave Little Hunter) with any of them.
Our prediction for a rockin' Southern Resident September proved accurate. Just like in 2021, after a record-setting absence throughout the summer, all three pods (J, K, and L) came into inland waters last month. What we did not predict was an extended stay from J-Pod in Puget Sound! While it's not unheard of them for them to make September forays that far south, they typically don't take up residence there for longer periods of time until October. Even more remarkable was their first visit in recent memory south of the Tacoma Narrows bridge and into Carr Inlet! Of course another highlight was the documentation of a new Southern Resident calf, who has received the designation J64. This little one was first seen on September 18th and was born to J42 Echo.
Also unexpected was the persistent presence of A5 Pod of the Northern Resident community in the Salish Sea in September. Early in the month, the A23s and A25s spent time in the northern reaches of the Strait of Georgia, and in the second half of the month the A42s and A25s came much further south than Northern Residents typically do this time of year, and spent a lot of time off the Vancouver area, including going into Howe Sound and south as far as the mouth of the Fraser River! You can see a blue and yellow dot very close together in that region. While that was not on the same day, we were definitely wondering what would happen if the Southern Residents encountered some Northern Residents at their regular feeding grounds. It will be interesting to see them cross paths at some point, which seems more likely to happen in the Salish Sea now than it used to be.
Just a note to remember that not all locations the whales were seen in September are represented on this map; shown here are just the first sightings locations of a group on a given day to give an overall sense of the number of unique groups utilizing the area. For further clarification and answers to other FAQs, check out HERE
