July 2021

July 2021 was a busy month for killer whale sightings in the Salish Sea. Not only did Ts continue to pop up everywhere, but we got a couple visits from the Southern Residents and even the Northern Residents!

Bigg's killer whales were again present every single day of the month, extending their "consecutive days here" streak to more than 130 days. One highlight included the return of the T37As to the Salish Sea early in the month, their first visit here in 2021. They have taken up temporary residence in the Salish Sea since then, touring from Puget Sound all through the San Juan Islands and up into the Strait of Georgia.

While we've had some "off season" visits from the A42s of the Northern Resident community in recent years, this summer appearance from them was new, especially in Active Pass! Their arrival on the morning of July 16 caused a few hours of confusion as to which whales were even being observed. It will be interesting to see if they continue to visit the Salish Sea with more regularity in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the Southern Residents were technically "in" the Salish Sea for five days in July, though three of those days were way out west near Sheringham. We also got that July 1 visit from members of K-Pod (picked up in the morning and represented by that purple dot in Rosario Strait), as well as the July 27 visit from members of all three pods, who were picked up in the Strait of Juan de Fuca but did make it all the way to the west side of San Juan Island before dusk. Unlike in previous months, we also received a handful of reports of all Js, Ks, and Ls just outside the Salish Sea out at Swiftsure Bank off the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

We fully expect to see more of the Southern Residents in August, but then again all bets seem to be off as to what is normal anymore, meaning educated predictions have more or less gone out the window. Typically, August is also a peak for Ts, but it's hard to imagine their numbers going up further than they already have! As always we will have to wait and see what's in store for the weeks ahead!