Each year, we try to predict how many confirmed Bigg's killer whale sightings there will be. Last year, our staff member Amanda was closest with her guess of 1845 (there were 1860!). Submit your guess for 2026 by 1/31 for a chance to win a 6-month Patreon subscription forms.gle/L8eWSN2cWqxL...

What steps are you taking to keep plastic out of the ocean Storytellers? It can be as simple as reducing your plastic waste, ensuring your waste is properly disposed of & supporting sustainable fisheries. Take an extra step & do a shoreline cleanup!⠀ 🖌️: John Larigakis #WhaleTales

😂😂😂 Happy WhaleWednesday everyone!

While many Salish Sea humpbacks have already left for their winter breeding grounds in Hawai'i, Mexico, and Central America, the ones that are still here are sure making a splash! 🌊🐋 📷: Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales Whale Watching

🚨 Website Update + Deadline Extension 🚨 Good news, Marine Mammal Science community! 🐋 The Society for Marine Mammalogy website is now fully restored and functioning. New extended deadline: Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 12:00 PM (noon) Atlantic Time (GMT-4)

Incredible Narwhal Encounter! Read the full story here: buff.ly/3qqKEG5 Photo by Judith This is an encounter from 2014. #WhaleTales #narwhal

Journal club is back! We are kicking 2026 off with a discussion on the paper "First At-Sea Identifications of Ginkgo-Toothed Beaked Whale: Acoustics, Genetics & Biological Observations Off Baja California" by Henderson et al. which is a very lovely exciting paper & we are really just happy for them.

New paper on the social learning of bubble net feeding by humpbacks in British Columbia, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B 🐋 royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article... #marmam @bcwhales.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social [1/5]

Hawaii’s #falsekillerwhales are slipping closer to extinction… read more here: www.mauimagazine.net/false-killer... #marmam

We love this cover photo from Orca Network's most recent Whale Sighting Report. It shows gray whale CRC-531 "Gretchen" feeding in the foreground with a Southern Resident killer whale in the background (taken from shore). myemail.constantcontact.com/January-19--...

The Arctic Roller Coaster. Read the full story here: buff.ly/3Qxs9yk Photo by Krisztina This is an encounter from 2025 #WhaleTales

Awesome Humpback Encounter in Lahaina. Read the full story here: buff.ly/eS7WY7E Photo by Dave This is an encounter from 2025 #WhaleTales

Babies. Read the full story here: buff.ly/3YbWck2 Photo by Krisztina This is an encounter from 2022 #WhaleTales

An Incredible Rare Encounter with a Spectacled Porpoise! Read the full story here: buff.ly/3TzpoyE Photo by Sara This is an encounter from 2024 #WhaleTales #porpoises

🫧🐳🫧 Mon, Jan 19 Yesterday ended just as predicted; fog lifted, orcas & grays showed up, friends gathered. Despite areas again enveloped in fog, we think today will mirror yesterday in its own lovely way. 📸 Gray whale Little Patch; signature head lunge & patch. By Marilyn Armbruster 1/18 #psws

Spending time outdoors, listening to the sounds of the ocean, or even respectfully watching whales & dolphins in their natural habitats can provide a sense of peace, perspective, & joy. These gentle beings remind us to slow down, breathe, & appreciate the beauty of the world around us. #BlueMonday

Winter Light Glows. Read the full story here: buff.ly/W0RjIeP Photo by @crphotography.bsky.social This is an encounter from 2026 #WhaleTales #Orca

End of Season. Read the full story here: buff.ly/VaO4G7B Photo by Krisztina This is an encounter from 2025 #WhaleTales #WhaleWatching

Encounter with Antarctic Type B2 Orcas. Read the full story here: buff.ly/SBFkY2u Photos by @birdingdad.bsky.social This is an encounter from 2025 #WhaleTales #orca

Whales in Antarctica. Read the full story here: buff.ly/YXDZvvd This is an encounter from 2023 #WhaleTales

If you've heard there's no whale watching in the Salish Sea during winter, T19C "Spouter" wants you to know you've been misinformed. 😉 This photo was taken in Haro Strait last weekend following a sea lion hunt. 📷: Jeff Friedman, @sjiwhalewatch.bsky.social

Sunday Funday. Read the full story here: buff.ly/3Li9jXV Photo by Krisztina Balotay⁠ This is an encounter from 2022 #WhaleTales

We have SO MANY plot and "science" questions about Beyond/Beneath the Blue. Join us for our discussion on this very Dolphin Girl movie on our Patreon at the $10/month level! patreon.com/whaletales #WhaleTales #WhaleTalesWatches

Cetacean cuties 🐋 #art

It's #FunFactFriday! Porpoises are more than just hipster dolphins! Dolphins & Porpoises are distant cousins & last had a common ancestor ~15 million years ago. In fact, humans have shared a more recent common ancestor with Chimps than porpoises do with dolphins Graphic Amy-Jo Randalls #WhaleTales

A few more stats from December 2025 orca sightings in the Salish Sea! - A new calf was seen traveling with T252. - Another new calf was seen in K-Pod, K47 is the first known offspring of K36. - The 6th month of the year where Biggs sightings were down Vs 2024. Which one surprises you the most?

WHALE OF AN ALERT: A massive group of North Atlantic right whales was just spotted off Cape Cod! 🐋 An incredible 33 whales were seen feeding together at the surface — a rare and extraordinary sight for one of the world’s most endangered whale species. https://bit.ly/49FBjBK

Right whale digital art! #marmam #art #digitalart #marinelife

A Day with the T109As. Read the full story here: buff.ly/3J6jal5 Photo by Marcie Callewaert This is an encounter from 2023 #WhaleTales

Here's a weird question: How do whales sleep without drowning? These sperm whales are power-napping below the water's surface, hanging like cocoons in the ocean. But whales evolved from land creatures: they breathe under *voluntary control*. What happens when the conscious mind shuts down?

Orca calves!!! A short clip of aerial footage from our encounter with the 27s Orcas in Yell Sound, Shetland earlier this week. Great to see the two calves born in 2022 and 2024 alongside their mothers.🖤🤍 #MarineLife #MarineMammals #CetaceansUK #UKWildlife

It's hump day! 🐋 This is the 2025 calf of BCX1704 "Vivaldi". The one-year-old was seen off Victoria last month still traveling with mom. Calves stay with mom for ~12 months, and can separate on the feeding grounds, or travel back with her to the breeding grounds. 📷: Ian Roberts of SpringTide Tours

Pliny the Elder referred to a porpoise as a 'porculus marinus' or 'sea-pig'. Later Latin rendered this as porcus ("pig") + peis ("fish"), so porpoise = "fish-pig". Old German was "meri-swin" which literally means "mer-pig" (modern German is 'Meerschwein') Modern French is 'marsouin'. Mer-pig! 🐬🐷

While we know that Pilot Whales are technically dolphins we cannot resist a good whale pun! What's your favourite whale (or dolphin or porpoise) joke Storytellers?! #WhaleTales #WhaleWednesday

The red dot is a baby North Atlantic right whale trying to migrate up the east coast of the United states. The blue streaks are fast moving shipping vessels entering and leaving New York City harbor. One collision and the whale is dead. We need *mandatory* speed limits for these vessels! 🧪🦑🌍

Absolutely love it 🐳 youtu.be/6gvLTBhtf4M?...

An Unexpected Encounter. Read the full story here: buff.ly/7VqTnYj Photo by Robin This is an encounter from 2025 #WhaleTales #SRKW

The Southern Resident Killer Whales K Pod swam by Tacoma earlier today. I count 11 in this photo, which is interesting to me because normally these orcas are really spread out and not bunched up like this when they visit the Tacoma area. 🦑

We'll have an overall summary of 2025 to share soon, but for now here is our final monthly sightings map of the year summarizing killer whale sightings in the Salish Sea in December. Read the full description for this map on our website here: tinyurl.com/obidec2025 #orcas #whalesky

Three generations of the T036 clan: Flapjack (T036) herself in the lead (back), followed by her 2yo son Auk (T036B4) and adult daughter Bhotia (T036B1). Surfacing on the left flank of Bhotia is her 2025 baby, daughter Maple (T036B1A)! @salishseaphotos.bsky.social #Wild4Whales

Bremer Canyon Orca Families. Read the full story here: bit.ly/3pHrEC4 Photo by Whale Watch Western Australia This is an encounter from 2020 #WhaleTales

First Encounter of 2026. Read the full story here: buff.ly/eNlEgbD Photos by Marcie #WhaleTales #orca

Orca Faces. Read the full story here: buff.ly/2OvxztW Photo by Krisztina Balotay This is an encounter from 2020 #WhaleTales

Everything is really scary and horrible, and on the utter flipside, we made these really adorable valentines. The dissonance of seeing horror, then posting "hey buy some cute valentines" is making me feel loopy. But also nice things persist despite terror? Ugh idk. Get 'em at SquidFacts.net

Have you checked our our Naming of Things blog series? We take a deep dive (pun intended!) on the names of certain cetaceans - check out this one on Beluga Whales! buff.ly/3m1Jq0O #WhaleTales #NamingOfThings

Whale hunting began 5,000 years ago in South America, a millennium earlier than previously thought phys.org/news/2026-01... via @physorg_com

Join us for a free screening of Ocean with David Attenborough—a stunning documentary showcasing the wonder of ocean life and the challenges facing it in never-before-seen footage. Meet fellow ocean lovers & learn about what's happening here in BC. 🍿 Jan 28 @ VIFF Centre. Tickets below!

In episode 87 in November (so long ago!) we had an extra Fun Flipper Fact from one of our Whale level patrons! Here Nicole tells us about white humpbacks and does some very back of the napkin math about how many there might be in the world. Photo: Migaloo by Craig Parry #WhaleTales