Transient Orcas Make Extended Visit to Key Peninsula and South Sound

At least two orca pods visited the waters of the Key Peninsula periodically for a week or 10 days in mid-April. Pod T99 was seen repeatedly in Carr and Case Inlet. An unidentified pod explored Filucy Bay.

The T99 and T123 families are transients, or Bigg’s orcas, known for hunting marine mammals, unlike the Southern Resident orcas that frequent the San Juan Islands and mainly eat fish. They are named after Canadian scientist Michael Bigg, who in the 1970s observed that the two types did not interact in their overlapping habitats. Bigg’s orcas are now considered a distinct ecotype.

Orcas live in matrilineal groups consisting of a matriarch and her descendants. Males often spend all of their lives with their mothers, but females will leave when they have calves of their own, creating a new matriline. They also form larger pods and clans composed of related matrilines, like the J, K, and L pods of the Southern Residents.

The matriarch of the T99 family is T099, called Bella, born around 1984. T99 is believed to be related to other transient orca families, like the T137s and T036s, according to the Orca Behavior Institute in Friday Harbor.

T123, called Sidney, is the mother and leader of the T123 family. She was born around 1985, the daughter of T046, called Wake, herself born around 1966. Wake was captured in Budd Inlet in 1976 but released after an emergency state injunction, part of the last group of orcas captured in American waters. She is thought to have died in 2023 at or near age 57.

According to the Pacific Whale Watch Association, Wake was the confirmed or probable mother of eight whales, with perhaps 27 known descendants.

There are approximately 400 individuals in the coastal Bigg’s population, according to Bay Cetology of British Columbia. The endangered Southern Resident orcas number 73, down more than 20 in as many years.