On the eighth day of Christmas, a pair of orca researchers were ‘gifted’ seven Bigg’s killer whales. That’s not quite how the song goes, but a visit from a pod of transient whales in Victoria waters on New Year’s Day offered a welcome remix of the classic tune to ring in 2026. Documenting the encounter were staff from Washington-based Center for Whale Research. Early Jan. 1, researcher Mark Malleson received a report of four killer whales spotted from shore between Trial Island and Clover Point, heading east towards Oak Bay. With fellow researcher George Hamilton on board, the pair set sail from Victoria in search of the pod. According to an encounter report shared by Center for Whale Research, the pair then received word the whales had been seen from Ten Mile Point heading northeast in Haro Strait in the direction of Henry Island. “With flat light under overcast skies, they stopped to do a binocular scan just south of the Kelp Reef marker,” the report reads. “Within a minute, Mark started to laugh when a dorsal fin filled the frame of his binoculars, as a killer whale passed within 60 metres of the team, heading northwest. ‘Good start to the new year.’” Among the seven whales observed was 13-year-old T166A1, marking only the second time this individual has been documented in the Salish Sea, with the first being around four years ago in Puget Sound. The entire T166 line is poorly known along the Pacific northwest coast, often going years between documentation, says Center for Whale Research. “We do know that T166A1 split from his/her mother sometime before the aforementioned 2021 appearance in Puget Sound,” they said. “Mother T166A is still alive and was recently observed off the northwest coast of Vancouver Island (July 2025) for the first time since she and T166A1 were last documented together a decade prior, along B.C.’s central coast in July 2015.” Also among the group was 20-year-old bull T073A1, plus three other members of the T073As and two belonging to the T075Cs. During the New Year’s Day encounter, the researchers observed six of the seven whales travelling close to D’arcy Island, who appeared to have made a quick meal of what they think was a harbor seal. Later, the seven transient whales regrouped near Battleship Island, where the researchers hoped to observe them predate one of the many stellar sea lions in the area. But after 30 minutes shadowing the pod as they sauntered east in Speiden Channel along the shoreline of Speiden Island, with no predation observed, the crew ended the encounter. Center for Whale Research shares its encounters throughout the year on its website. In 2025, the organisation documented 45 encounters with Bigg’s killer whales in waters off Vancouver Island and Washington, 34 with the endangered southern residents and one with the northern residents. For more information visit: www.whaleresearch.com [https://www.whaleresearch.com/].
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