Bigg's streak 2023: 269 days

We figured it would likely happen this month, but yesterday was the day: our consecutive days of confirmed Bigg's killer whales in the Salish Sea streak came to an end.

Thanks to help from dozens if not hundreds of community scientists over the last 9 months, we were able to confirm the presence of Bigg's every single day between March 12 and December 6, a run of 269 days. This smashes our previous record of 215 consecutive days set in 2021.

We suspect, of course, that at least some Bigg's are present somewhere in the Salish Sea every day of the year. Yesterday we even got reports of 4 different groups of orcas ranging from Campbell River to Puget Sound, 3 of which were almost certainly Bigg's. But without the photos to confirm, we can't 100% say for sure. While sad in one sense to have the streak end, it's also a cause for celebration of the incredible community scientist network we have all created!

What do you say, should we try for confirmation of Bigg's all 365 days of 2024? Such a feat would only be possible with your help! Your sightings and photos shared to public sightings networks throughout the Salish Sea are what make this type of data tracking possible. So keep your cameras on hand and let's see if we can do it next year!

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