Latest Sightings

A publication of Wild Ocean Whale Society (WOWs)

Whale Diversity and Activity at its Peak!

Many sightings of Transient Orca have been reported, with a few observers being fortunate to see some of the Orca hunting their prey. The Transients are in upper Georgia Strait and the inland waters while the Northern Resident Orca and Southern Resident Orca have been observed in their normal ranges at opposite ends of Vancouver…
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Humpback Whales and Orca Non-Stop Action

We have at least two sets of Mom and calf Humpback Whales being observed daily for the past while. The little ones practice their breaching, usually after being fed, which has been a topic of discussion as to why Humpbacks breach. They actually do look as if breaching is just a fun thing to do.…
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Whale Activity Increases Daily

Humpback Whales have been returning to our inner waters with daily increases in sightings of different individuals, including calves. We had a report of some Transient Bigg’s Orca even attempting to attack a calf in the Sooke area. When more adults came to protect the calf, the Orca thought better of tackling these larger mammals…
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Northern Residents Arrive in Numbers

What a wonderful surprise to hear about a possible Fin Whale appearing just off Comox one evening last week. Having a Fin Whale within the inside waters is extremely rare and must have delighted a few lucky observers. Unfortunately we have no confirmation of the report, but our closest possibility is a Minke Whale report.…
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Cetaceans Observed from Johnstone Strait to Victoria

Many sightings of whales and dolphins have taken place in Johnstone Strait, upper Georgia Strait, Discovery Passage, and other inside waterways. Northern Resident Killer Whales have been sighted more frequently during the past week. Harbour porpoises were seen in various areas and one Minke whale made a rare appearance in Saanich Inlet. As usual, our…
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Abundant Whales and Dolphins – Nature at its Best!

Many Bigg`s Orca and Humpback whales remaining in the Southern half of Discovery Passage for extended periods of time. Resident Orca (Northern and Southern) have been sighted as well large pods of Pacific White-Sided Dolphins in the inside waters. Ivan Ng, Volunteer, Wild Ocean Whale Society A42s swimming through the mist Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys…
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SRKWs, NRKWs, Bigg’s Orca and Humpbacks Of Course

As we publish this report, some of the Northern Resident Killer Whales have made their way down into Johnstone Strait. Being harassed by Pacific White Sided Dolphins is a very good indicator of the Resident or fish eating Orca. The Dolphins tend to hide when the Transient Bigg’s are around as they are meat eaters…
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Humpbacks and Transient Bigg’s Taking Centre Stage Still

Resident Humpback Whales KC and Arial keep having a good time still in Discovery Passage. Southern Resident J-pod had stayed out of the Georgia Strait, but have finally come back into our inner waters – more in the next report. More Transient Bigg’s Orca are showing up, but the T002Cs are staying around their favourite…
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Bigg’s Orca but No Resident Pods to Report

Transient Bigg’s Orca family known as the T002Cs have been staying in the upper Georgia Strait and coming close and briefly mixing with a few other Bigg’s. No Resident pods of Killer Whales reported in any area along our inside waters. Humpback Whales, in particular the two siblings BCY0291 KC and BCY0767 Arial keep putting…
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Whales All Over Sightings Maps and Photos

Note to Safari browser users:Apple software upgrades this week are preventing images from displaying on this site. To resolve the problem, please clear your Safari browser cache. On a Mac this is in Safari preferences. On iPad and iPhones, use the Settings app, Safari, Clear History and Website Data. Southern Resident Killer Whales are staying in…
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Active Cetaceans and Full Gamut of Sightings

From Northern Resident Killer Whales to Southern Resident Killer Whales, Bigg’s Orca, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, Pacific White Sided Dolphins and a few Porpoise to finish the report. Although we are missing a couple of species, such as Grey Whales and a few rarer ones in our report, this report still covers a lot of…
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Killer Whales and More Humpback Whales Returning

What a pleasure to see yet another returning Humpback Whale. And finally one by Powell River. Houdini, oficially BCX0022, has been one of our most prolific Humpbacks. She has many surviving offspring including KC who last appeared to head in the direction of his Mom. It will be great to hear if they do meet…
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Humpbacks Galore and Orca Hunting in Desolation Sound

Some of our regular Humpback Whales are staying in and around our area once again. It’s wonderful to know that they call our inside waters their Summer homes. Of the usual whales, KC short for Kelp Creature is the most notable and easily recognized having survived a boat strike leaving his dorsal split. Stripe and…
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Humpbacks, Greys and Transient Biggs on the Hunt

Transient Bigg’s Killer Whales known as the T010s and one known as T077A with some very unique marks on the trailing edge of his big dorsal have been travelling and hunting around together from mid Georgia Strait continuing all the way out West of Johnstone Strait. While the T002Cs are hanging around Desolation Sound again.…
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Humpbacks, Orca and Even a Grey Whale Popping up Everywhere

It’s not often we see Grey Whales in the upper Georgia Strait, but we have seen more of them in the past couple of years. Nice to see them passing through our waters again. Once the Humpback Whales started to show up last week, they seemed to appear all over the place. We know we’ve…
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More Humpback Whales Showing Up as well as Plenty of Bigg’s

As anticipated in the last update, more Humpback Whales are working their way back into the upper sections of Georgia Strait with some headed into Johnstone Strait and surrounding channels. Transient Bigg’s are being seen in various channels and do not appear to be staying in any one area for long at the moment. The…
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Humpback Whales Finally, Orca, Dolphins and Porpoise

A couple of Humpback Whales finally showed up breaching off Campbell River. This should mean we’ll be seeing more of them in the upper Georgia Strait, so keep your eyes open and please remember to let us know. Transient Bigg’s have been around as well as a J-Pod, Southern Resident Killer Whale report. Some Pacific…
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Killer Whales Popping Up, Dolphins and Porpoise

As we post our Sightings Update and Maps there are more reports of Transient Bigg’s Killer Whales by Campbell River including T087 who appears to have joined up with another six whales while another group is a bit farther along. We will post the reports and photos in our next update. There were rumours of…
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Killer Whales and the Humpback in Vancouver Still Top our Report

A Humpback Whale seems to have found some good food, presumably herring, to feed on in the Vancouver area still. Our volunteer Ivan was kayaking and managed a short video clip for us, while Kristy Wright managed to get video of the whale breaching. Once the big rumblings of earthquakes stopped, more whales and dolphins…
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Vancouver Humpback, Bigg`s Killer Whales and Dolphins are Back

Transient Bigg’s Orca, T075s and T002Cs have graced our waters again. T075s are not frequent visitors to this area of the Georgia Strait, but T002Cs were jokingly dubbed our `Resident` Transients in previous years from their staying in the Strait. A Humpback Whale has certainly made waves in the Vancouver area, while Pacific White Sided…
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Killer Whales, Humpbacks, Greys, Dolphins and Porpoise

Transient Bigg’s Orca, including probably T087, have been making short appearances interspersed with some other Killer Whales’ appearances. We have some more Humpback Whales popping out of the water and a few more Grey Whales creeping up the coast. Pacific White Sided Dolphins have been spotted bowriding a few boats, but are not staying in…
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Orca, Dolphins and Albino Whales

Albino Grey and Humpback Whales. and even an Orca have once again been in the news. The best known is called Migaloo, the Humpback whale and the most recently confirmed is a Grey whale seen along the Baja peninsula. We too had one report a few issues back of a possible white whale in the…
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Bigg’s Orca, Humpback and Grey Whales, Dolphins and Porpoise

T087, a large male Transient Bigg’s Killer Whale has joined back up with the pod he most frequently had been seen with over the past few years, the T086A’s. There is however one missing female Orca from the pod; T086A1. Reports of other Bigg’s Orca on a Dall’s Porpoise hunt in the inlets has also…
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Transient Bigg’s Killer Whale Baby Expected Soon

Transient Bigg’s Orca known as T087 who had been cruising the straits alone has joined up with a couple of other pods in which there is one female with an extremely large belly. We expect that there will be another new calf to report very soon. There have been a few other reports of Orca,…
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Pacific White Sided Dolphins Make an Appearance

Many Humpback Whales have stayed in North Pacific this year with reports from even around Prince Rupert of bubble net lunge feeding still. Others are still in the Georgia Strait. It is possible the food was so late that instead of carrying on to their usual breeding grounds they have chosen to stay where the…
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Northern Resident and Southern Resident Orca in Upper Georgia Strait

Northern and Southern Resident Orca both made appearances in the upper Georgia Strait. It’s wonderful to know that the NRKWs known as the A42’s tend to make our waters their winter home. They had spent much of the Summer as far North as Alaska. In our previous report we had them listed as Unidentified, but…
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Southern Resident Orca, Bigg’s, Humpback Whales, and Porpoise

Southern Resident Orca are back into the upper Georgia Strait, which has become a regular winter trek for them. Humpback Whales are still milling about the area and we’ve included a special video clip of two of them visiting a boat on New Year’s Day. We’ve also included another special video clip of an amazing…
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New SRKW Calf, Humpback Whales, Orca and One Dolphin

Note to Safari browser users: Apple software upgrades this week are preventing images from displaying on this site. To resolve the problem, please clear your Safari browser cache. On a Mac this is in Safari preferences. On iPad and iPhones, use the Settings app, Safari, Clear History and Website Data. Another calf for J-Pod boosts the…
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Humpback Whales in December, Orca, Dolphins and Porpoise

Humpback Whales in December is not the usual set of circumstances. We’ve had the odd one over the past number of years that may have stayed due to a calf that couldn’t make the migration, or some other reason, but this year we are seeing a number of them. Are they staying or are they…
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Southern Resident Orca and Humpback Whales Highlighted

Southern Resident Killer Whales from K-pod made one of their few Autumn forays into the upper Georgia Strait. They didn’t stay for long, but we can only hope they had a good feed. Transient Bigg’s Orca are being conspicuous by their absence, while we have a number of Humpback Whales still hanging around our inside…
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