March 2024

As expected, March was a busy month in the Salish Sea! Our monthly sightings map shows all the unique killer whale reports we documented, with each dot representing a unique group of whales seen on a unique day.

Bigg's killer whale sightings were just about on par with last year, which is to say, there were a lot of them! Several new calves were documented, bringing the total up to 8 new members of the population already this year. (Check out a recent post from Bay Cetology for the official list.) As expected, the T65As as well as T63 and T65 made their spring return to the Salish Sea, and a "T Party" made up in part of the T36As, T100s, and T124As traversed the region from north to south delighting viewers from Campbell River to Nanaimo to Puget Sound. We had quite a few days in March with more than 40 Bigg’s confirmed in the Salish Sea!

The Northern Residents that had spent so much of the first part of the year along the Sunshine Coast departed the region, while J-Pod was in the Salish Sea for the majority of the month, spending a lot of time in the Strait of Georgia. We’ve heard from several sources that winter blackmouth (Chinook that stay in inland waters instead of migrating out to the open ocean) has been strong, which is likely what both resident killer whale populations are feeding on this time of year.

Unexpectedly, nearly all the other Southern Residents were also documented at least once in March, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca: K-Pod and L-Pod sans the L12 sub-group. Often we can go months this time of year without reports on their whereabouts. Typically Ks and Ls spend a lot of the winter and spring on the outer coast from BC to California, whereas J-Pod remains more “resident” in inland waters during the winter.

Not only have the spring Ts returned, but the daylight hours are lengthening and the weather is slowly but surely becoming more mild, setting the stage for a busy April. If patterns hold, the Bigg’s bonanza will ramp up even further this month, while we anticipate at some point soon that J-Pod will make their spring exit, leaving us waiting weeks or perhaps even months for their next visit.