California Killer Whale Project

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California Killer Whale Project

Our mission is to continue the long term study of the ecology, natural history, and conservation of killer whales along the California coast.

We have been studying orcas since the 1980s and have the longest standing record of orcas along the west coast - more than 66 years of data! Contribute to our research by sending us any orca sightings along California! Visit our website submission form or email us your info and photos to help us continue our long-term research.

08/19/2026

New Encounter Report: CA27s tour the Pacific Northwest! On July 27th 2026, Brooke McKinley received a report from a friend of orcas outside of Deception Pass. Very quickly CA27C was identified upon examining photos! Later, so was matriarch CA27 and her youngest living calf, CA27F. This is the first record of the CA27s in the Salish Sea! The T036/T036Bs, T069E, and T137A were also identified traveling with the CA27s. The group was observed pushing eastbound under the Deception Pass Bridge and then into Similk Bay. By the time Brooke (aboard Outer Island Excursions) caught up with them, the whales had turned around and were now westbound, making a bee-line back toward the bridge. The group decided to get into even tighter quarters, opting for Canoe Pass—a notoriously narrow gap just 70 feet wide. Whale watching vessels took Deception pass and met them on the other side, continuing their cruise north along Fidalgo Island. The group was left heading northwest. The group later cruised right past Washington Park, treating thrilled onlookers on the rocks to an incredibly close pass. The whales were loosely spread out across the water, with T137A bit further out from the main group. Onlookers were treated to a heartwarming “cuddle puddle” from a few members of the T036 family, followed by a spyhop from CA27F. Eventually, they grouped back up and headed northbound toward Bellingham Bay. The next morning on July 28th, fins were spotted outside Cap Sante Marina. Soon after a water taxi confirmed the sighting as the whales rounded Washington Park. A nearby eco-tour boat got on scene and officially confirmed the IDs: the three California Bigg’s were together, but this time without the company of the rest of the group from the prior day. They traveled south of Lopez Island at incredible speed all day and a distinct southwest direction out into open waters. What an incredible encounter! Photos and encounter writeup by Brooke McKinley Brooke McKinley

07/27/2026

New Encounter Report: Orcas in Monterey Bay...hunting long-beaked common dolphin! On July 19th, the beloved CA140Bs were spotted outside of Moss Landing with CA50B (who is most typically seen with the CA51As) early in the morning. They traveled together to the west and eventually the CA140Bs split off and made several playful close passes to several whale watching boats. The encounter was fairly calm until a small pod of around 20 long-beaked common dolphins started traveling right towards the killer whale from the north, seemingly unaware of their presence. The whale watching vessels were floored when they began punting several of the adult common dolphins from the pod into the air to injure and immobilize them. Right away our colleagues on the Blackfin spotted a very young, likely newborn, common dolphin surfacing fast among the pod. The mother dolphin may have been hunted by the killer whales, or the young dolphin was separated in the chaos. However, the common dolphin was observed swimming with the CA140Bs for hours; from around 10:30AM to 3:30PM! Most of the time, the calf traveled in echelon position (slightly behind and adjacent to larger individuals to utilize their slip-stream) with CA140B2 “Bee”. Sometimes it seemed the calf was trying to sneak away, only to be corralled back by the killer whales, and many times the calf started to fall behind and seemed to be trying to keep up with the killer whales if they picked up speed! However, it did not seem that the CA140Bs intended to consume the dolphin for a long time, until CA140B “Louise,” CA140B1 “Stinger,” and CA140B4 “Bumble” split off to continue foraging. When one of the adult killer whales began punting another adult common dolphin into the air, the remaining killer whales CA140B2 “Bee” and CA140B3 “Buzz” began getting far rougher with the young common dolphin calf. They rammed the common dolphin calf, flicking it into the air, and even surfacing with the dolphin calf in their mouths! However, there were no visible injuries on the calf noted. Later in the day, the killer whales returned to the east, still with the dolphin calf traveling with them! Eventually, CA50B Jimmy rejoined the pod from the west, and CA140B2 “Bee” left the common dolphin calf to an unknown fate. The group went back to hunting common dolphins in the inner submarine canyon until late in the evening. The next day, July 20th, the group of 6 was seen hunting common dolphins in the morning, this time with CA50B getting more involved. This exciting encounter has received a lot of attention, and for good reason! Dolphin hunts are more rare to witness than other predations in Monterey area due to the fast-nature of the encounters and the infrequency of certain prey species like common and Pacific white-sided dolphins. Incredible photos by Morgan Quimby (1-6) and Dane McDermott (7-11) aboard Monterey Bay Whale Watch

07/20/2026

New Encounter Report: orcas near Monterey Bay on the 4th of July! In the late morning, occasionally-lone male CA49B “Richie” was spotted with the CA122Bs, CA122Ds and at least some members of the CA212s. As they traveled south, they gave several of the whale watching boats great looks. Eventually, they went as far south as Point Lobos State Park and began attempting to take down a young California sea lion. As the sea lion took refuge under several of the boats, they provided a great opportunity for documentation! There were some individuals spotted out towards the horizon that have yet to be identified. Amazingly, 2 humpbacks began charging through the predation attempt, likely trying to disrupt the killer whales hunting. Eventually, a couple more humpbacks came in to assist the young sea lion, and while it was unclear if the killer whales succeeded in their hunt, they did begin traveling southwest until the boats could no longer observe them. What an incredible encounter during the holiday! Photos by CKWP Research Volunteer Dane McDermott Dane McDermott aboard Monterey Bay Whale Watch

07/17/2026

New Encounter Report: the CA51As, CA50B, and a special appearance by the CA220s in Monterey Bay, CA! On 6/29/2026, the CA51As and CA50B were on the north side of the bay hunting sea lions. There was lots of surface activity, including breaching and tail slaps! CA51A3A Nova also practiced some hunting techniques with a northern fulmar, which can be very helpful for young whales while learning. On 7/3/2026, the CA51As and CA50B were back again, this time with the CA220s! Once again, there was so much surface behavior! From young whales breaching, to even a male killer whale breaching, the day was so much fun! There was also some pe**le display by both males in the CA220 matriline. The CA220s are not around very often, and this was only their 4th known encounter EVER! This matriline consists of matriarch CA220, and her two sons, CA220A and CA220B.
Check out these incredible photos by photographer Morgan Quimby Morgan Quimby, aboard Monterey Bay Whale Watch on 7/3/26.
Don’t forget to check out our brand new field guide, which includes 271 individuals from this population! It is free to download from our website at www.californiakillerwhaleproject.com/field-guides

07/08/2026

We are incredibly proud to present the greatly expanded, third edition of our California Killer Whale Project Field Guide! This resource includes almost all recently encountered Bigg's killer whales that have been documented in California waters in order to aid whale watchers, researchers and the general public in identifying photographed killer whales in the field. This field guide will be a very useful tool in informing those interested in learning more about the killer whales that spend time in California waters; it includes many detailed matrilines and associated individuals. Our goal is to continue bolstering research to help more members of the public recognize these individual killer whales, hopefully inspiring them to care about these orcas and want to protect them and their habitat. This field guide represents thousands of hours of dedicated volunteer effort; it was researched and written through human expertise and collaboration. We also utilized the platform Finwave.io in the curation of this field guide, and we thank Jared Towers and his team for providing public access to such a valuable resource. Every other aspect of this guide was researched, written, and curated by people. We are especially grateful to our numerous photo contributors. We hope that you enjoy the newest iteration of California Killer Whale Project's field guide!

Please continue submitting killer whale sightings to us through our online form at our website or by emailing [email protected]!

https://www.californiakillerwhaleproject.org/_files/ugd/b85107_dd516b5387b247988802edac6a969c30.pdf

07/07/2026

New Encounter Report: CA199 Returns to Monterey Bay! What an amazing encounter with CA199 on June 23, 2026. This incredibly impressive male killer whale was breaching and tail slapping throughout the entire encounter. His impressive and unique dorsal fin makes him one of the easiest orcas to identify on the rare occasion he shows up! We were so excited to receive a report of this whale, as he has not been seen in Monterey Bay since 2018! Between 2019-2023, there were no reports of him anywhere along the California coast. However, starting in 2024, he has been sighted many times near the Channel Islands by Pacific Offshore Expeditions. He is one of the oldest whales in the California population, likely somewhere in his mid-40s. Thank you to everyone who sent in photos of this big guy!
Photos by Warren Asher Warren Asher aboard Monterey Bay Whale Watch

07/03/2026

New Encounter Report: Killer whales in Monterey Bay! On June 13th 2026, Monterey Bay Whale Watch found the CA200s traveling north along the canyon edge. They stayed tight together as they traveled as a family. The next day, on June 14, 2026, the CA122Bs were identified hunting a sea lion! Nancy Black, Colleen Talty, and Tomoko Shimotomai went out on a research trip and observed many different behaviors, including the youngest member of the matriline, CA122B4, draping intestine from a California sea lion over its body. The youngest members, CA122B3 and CA122B4, were very playful during the encounter: breaching, tail slapping, and coming up to the boat. CA122B3 even chased 2 common murres around and did “cartwheels.” Over several hours of great documentation, they were even able to positively confirm the s*x of CA122B4 as female!
Photos by Colleen Talty Colleen Marie of the CA122Bs, from 6/14/2026.

06/15/2026

New Encounter Reports: Monterey Bay killer whale sightings in June! While sightings typically ramp up around late April and slow down around mid-May, there have been a number of note-worthy sightings around Monterey this month. On June 2nd, the CA138s were spotted being harassed by humpback whales near the Monterey submarine canyon. The CA138s are currently a pod of 7 led by CA138, who is at least 41 years old, and consists of large male CA138A (16-years old) CA138B and her calf CA138B1, juveniles CA138C (female) and CA138D (male), and the youngest calf CA138E who was likely born in 2024. The CA138s were around on June 3rd as well, but this time they were joined by the CA51s (friendly pod) and the CA206s (last seen 2/28/2026 near Monterey Bay). During this encounter, they were seen being mobbed by humpback whales once again. On June 8th, the CA51s were spotted again hunting sea lions and harbor porpoise with the CA140Bs, Louise’s pod. Both groups were extremely friendly with the local whale watching boats as well! On June 10th, the CA140Bs stuck around as they were spotted foraging over the inner Monterey submarine canyon. Thank you so much to everyone who has shared encounter details and photos with us this month! If you see killer whales anywhere in California then we would love to hear about it! You can email your sightings to the California Killer Whale Project ([email protected]) or submit to our website!
Photos by Morgan Quimby of the CA140Bs on 6/10/2026 Morgan Quimby

06/06/2026

New Encounter Reports: large groups of killer whales in Monterey Bay! We have had an incredible couple of days in Monterey with several groups of killer whales moving through the area. On May 30th, Princess Monterey encountered 23 killer whales traveling south at high speeds (almost 14mph sustained for over an hour). The CA35s (with CA26 and CA36), CA51s, CA216s, CA222s, as well as CA175A and CA180 traveled together, sometimes in only 20 feet of water depth as they rounded Cypress point into Carmel Bay. Eventually, the CA51s and CA222s slowed down while the others traveled together around 2 miles ahead. They were observed taking down a likely pinniped with astonishing speed, creating an oil slick from the lipid-rich blubber which attracted dozens of Black-footed albatross and Black storm-petrels. The encounter was a great opportunity to document two new calves to the California Bigg’s population, CA216A1, calf of CA216A “Big Eye,” likely born in late 2025 and CA222D, calf of the rarely-encountered CA222 who had not been documented since 2023 before the calf was born and only days after being identified as new thanks to Kate Spencer of Fast Raft Ocean Safaris. On May 31st, the CA140s “Emma’s pod” and the CA113s, comprised of matriarch CA113 and 27-year old son CA113A, were observed traveling together quickly to the north closer to Santa Cruz.
While several families of orcas are moving around the coast, it’s a great time to keep an eye out for killer whales in California. Have you seen killer whales recently? You can submit your photos and videos to the California Killer Whale Project website.
Photos by Morgan Quimby aboard Monterey Bay Whale Watch

05/17/2026

New Encounter Report: CA35As, CA180, and CA175A in Monterey Bay on 5/6/26! Some incredible killer whale sightings have continued throughout May in both southern CA and in Monterey Bay! On May 6th, the CA35s were reported traveling north, diving for about 2-3 minutes at a time. They were traveling fairly quickly, sometimes even porpoising out of the water . After observing these orcas for about an hour, they met up with CA180 and CA175A! They were all traveling fast, taking now 5 minute dives, and were a bit difficult to keep track of. They continued traveling north. Thank you to the Monterey Bay whale watching boats for sending us encounter details!
Photos by Avery Fretwell aboard

Address

99 Pacific Street, Suite 200L
Monterey, CA
93940

Website

http://californiakillerwhaleproject.org/

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