February2023

Here is our second monthly installment of Salish Sea orca sightings for 2023. As per usual, February was a slower month for killer whale reports, thanks to a combination of poor weather, lack of long daylight hours, and fewer whales around.

J-Pod returned to inland waters on February 8 after a short absence, and while we only had 9 confirmed days of their presence throughout the month, we speculate that they've been here the whole time since then, mostly unreported in the expansive central Strait of Georgia.

The A42s of the Northern Resident community continued to roam between Howe Sound and Powell River, before making their winter exit on March 1st when they were seen heading west past Port McNeil off northern Vancouver Island.

Bigg's killer whales appeared sporadically throughout the Salish Sea, with confirmed presence on 20 days of the month. The T124A2s, T87 and the T90s, and the T99s were among the groups that spent part of the month roaming the region, with the T123s, T18s, and T137s came back into the area late in the month. With the beginning of March, we fully expect our spring influx of Ts to begin in earnest with reports picking up more any day now.

The gray dots, which see more of on the map this time of year, represent "unknown ecotype" meaning we were able to confirm the presence of killer whales but could not ID which specific orcas were present. Most of these reports were likely Bigg's killer whales, with some of the Sunshine Coast reports likely the A42s on this specific map.

Thanks as always to our expansive sightings community that make these monthly maps possible!

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