March 2025

Is this going to truly be the Year of the Bigg’s? It’s starting to seem like a real possibility with confirmed Bigg’s killer whale reports through the first 90 days of 2025, including the two months when we typically get the fewest sightings.  For the last several years we’ve had daily sightings streaks that easily span from April to September, so it may very well depend on how the end of the year plays out.

You know it’s spring in the central Salish Sea when the T19s and T49As start cruising the San Juan and Gulf Islands for Steller sea lions and this year was no exception. Those two family groups were seen together on 8 days throughout the month. Similarly, if you get a report of Bigg’s in Hood Canal this time of year you almost don’t need the photos to confirm it’s the T65As, and sure enough they spent at least 9 days in the Canal this March.



What was perhaps a little more unexpected last month was siblings T30A and T30C spending some solid time in the Salish Sea, as they’ve become rarely seen whales here in recent years. It was particularly cool to hear that they met up with their sister T30B at one point, too. Another highlight included the discovery of T46B3A, the first known calf born to 14 year-old T46B3 Sedna.



While we’ve come to expect the continued rise of the Bigg’s, it’s also been a pleasant surprise to document an uptick in Southern Resident killer whale sightings in the Salish Sea across the first three months of the year. In March, we were able to confirm their presence on 20 days, the highest total for the month since we started tracking year-round Southern Resident presence 11 years ago. Tellingly, it’s not just J-Pod, but K-Pod too, and the L12s and L54s were also picked up once in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This is the first time in recent memory we’ve had multiple pods spending substantial time here in the early spring, a hopeful sign that they’re finding something good here to eat.



What are our predictions for April? Let’s go bold this time with our guesses:

Over 200 Bigg’s killer whale sightings for the first time in April

At least one more newly documented Bigg’s killer whale calf

SRKW presence on more than the 15 days documented in 2024

K-Pod continuing to stick around with Js through the month