October 2021

Here is the October 2021 sightings map for orcas in the Salish Sea!

While the "consecutive days" streak of confirmed Bigg's killer whale reports was broken, the ecotype was still documented on 28 days of the month, a record for October. Some groups that spent a lot of time here included the T2Cs, T101s, T123s, and T137s.

There was an increase in reports of Bigg's in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in part due to the presence of the T252s. Nicknamed "The High Ts" for having the highest numbers in the most recent Bigg's catalogue, these whales were formerly known by their "U" (Unknown) and/or "CA" (California) designations before being assigned their current T alphanumerics which officially recognize their status as part of the West Coast Transient population. They are a group that now regularly visits the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the late fall.

Meanwhile on the Southern Resident killer whale front, they were documented on a dozen days in October, which is about average over the last 5-10 years. (Based on sighting locations, we can infer they were actually here more than that, but likely went unreported on some days in the Strait of Georgia.) Interestingly, while there have been a couple short visits to Puget Sound, they are continuing to make trips up to the Strait of Georgia, something that historically they would do less of in the fall as they switched their focus to the fall chum salmon runs in Puget Sound. Really, they utilized the entirety of the Salish Sea from east to west and north to south in October.

The shorter days and wet and windy weather of November mean we expect fewer reports this month, but while there are fewer eyes on the water and fewer daylight hours in which to look, the growing community sightings networks mean we may very well set another record month in November. At the very least, we suspect members of J and L-Pods are currently somewhere up in the northern Salish Sea, and we hope to see them sometime soon if they make their way back south.