Orca Behavior Institute

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Orca Behavior Institute

Inspiring conservation of wild killer whales through non-invasive research, bold advocacy, and science-based education.

The Orca Behavior Institute is a non-profit whale research organization based on San Juan Island, Washington. Founded in 2015, OBI was created by a small group of passionate community scientists. Our goal is to establish long-term data sets documenting changes in whale behavior in the Salish Sea to inform protection of Bigg’s killer whales and recovery of Southern Resident killer whales. By tracki

ng and confirming whale sightings throughout the region, conducting field observations of whale behavior, and recording and analyzing whale acoustic communication, we aim to publish current data and trends in a timely manner to inform other research efforts and on-going policy decisions. As we’ve grown in recent years, our work has expanded to include science-based continuing education programs and partnerships aimed towards promoting bold advocacy on behalf of regional killer whales and the ecosystem they rely on.

08/23/2026

A cool moment from yesterday morning of T37A2 Inky passing the Washington State Ferries Samish vessel that was parked at the Orcas Island ferry terminal.

Imagine being in your car getting ready to unload and having no idea there's a bull orca that close behind you! 😅

08/22/2026

Overheard on the marine radio last night as T137A Jack got some *serious* air in the Strait of Juan de Fuca south of Victoria! 👀

Photo by the talented Alex McIntire!

08/20/2026

Our fall Marine Mammals 101 class is now open for registration!

Join us for weekly virtual lectures led by expert speakers who will cover the basics of Southern Resident and Bigg's killer whales, pinnipeds, small cetaceans, and the different types of baleen whales commonly found in the Salish Sea.

These six virtual sessions, each lasting ~75 minutes, will be held on Zoom every Monday at 6:30 PM PST, beginning on September 28 and continuing until November 2. If you can't attend a session live, all sessions will be recorded for later viewing.

This is an introductory-level class, so no prior knowledge is required. We simply ask that you come prepared to participate and eager to learn. As this is a fully virtual class, you can join us from anywhere!

The class costs $120 and scholarships are available to assist with expenses if needed.

To learn more, sign up, or apply for financial assistance, visit the link below:
https://www.orcabehaviorinstitute.org/whale-university-classes/marine-mammals-101

08/19/2026

Here's a map showing where we traveled during our eight on-the-water Northern Resident killer whale encounters earlier this month while operating out of Telegraph Cove. The family we saw the most was the A34s, but we also had encounters with the A23s and A25s.

For Southern Residents, it used be that if you hung out near Haro Strait in the summertime, you were bound to see them. While that of course has changed dramatically, the showed incredible site fidelity. While there have been changes for the Northern Residents, too - such as them coming in later and a smaller portion of the population visiting the Johnstone Strait region each summer - it's still an amazing thing to experience that if you are near Blackfish Sound in the late summer, you are likely to see them. You can see that all of our encounters occurred over a range of about a dozen miles as the crow flies.

While shifts in habitat use are one thing, we're also interested in overall activity budgets of how resident killer whales are using what were historically identified as their core summer ranges. We are finalizing a comparative study for changes in Southern Resident killer whale behavior over time that we will be able to share with you soon, and hope to follow that up with a comparison between Southern and Northern Resident activity budgets. Our question is if there are differences between two fish-eating populations where one is declining and one increasing. -MWS

08/18/2026

On our last full day in Telegraph Cove, we prepared to head out on the water without any reports just to take advantage of the beautiful weather and do some searching. As luck would have it, just as we were loading onto our boat, a group of kayakers picked up orcas just around the corner from the marina!

The four whales were initially being very cryptic, doing long dives with very sproadic surfacings. From this behavior we had a good sense they were Bigg's, but it took a bit to get a good enough look to confirm who. It turns out it was a family we do not get to see very often: the T73As!

Thanks to our partners helping us track sightings throughout the Salish Sea, we knew they had been inbound in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on August 11 and northbound off Nanaimo on August 12. They made pretty good time for us to see them in northern Johnstone Strait on August 14: that's a distance of at least 270 miles in 72 hours.

We know these four whales affectionately as the Sea Monsters. Mom T73A is Nessie, oldest son T73A1 is Caddy (for Cadborosaurus), T73A2 is Ogopogo, and T73A3 is Champ. Watching them go right past Alert Bay, "Home of the Killer Whale", was a fitting way to wrap up our north island field work for 2026. 🐉 -MWS

08/17/2026

Orcas will always be my first love, but humpbacks have definitely climbed near the top of my list of favorite species to hang out with. Part of this appreciation has come from our time on the water out of Telegraph Cove, where not only do you see the same cast of characters from year to year, but often with incredible site fidelity, within the same few kilometers of their favorite feeding grounds from season to season. We got to see both lunge feeding and trap feeding!

This trip was no exception, as while our fieldwork was focused on killer whales, we also encountered over 15 individually recognizable humpbacks including some of our old pals like Ripple, Quartz, Inukshuk, Merge, and Conger. We also got to meet Guardian's 2026 calf, who was always full of energy and has already survived an encounter with killer whales, as evidenced by the rake marks on his flukes. We submit all of our humpback sightings to Happywhale, a community science project that has led to some incredible insights into this global species.

If you're also keen to learn more about humpbacks, we still have a few seats left in our fall Fluking Around with Humpbacks class that runs over the course of 8 weeks this fall. We will learn in depth about migration, calving, feeding, acoustics, and more from a series of expert lectures, will learn how to draw humpback whales, and in what promises to be an epic weekend, will spend two full days on the water with Maya's Legacy in search of the large congregations of humpback whales we see in the Salish Sea in the fall (and all the other incredible marine life that's around then, too!) -MWS

You can find details for this class and register here:
https://www.orcabehaviorinstitute.org/whale-university-classes/fluking-around-with-humpbacks

08/16/2026

As is our tradition, after wrapping up our fieldwork for the year out of Telegraph Cove, we ended our time on the North Island with evening trip with Prince of Whales Whale Watching. It was a picture perfect night to be on the water complete with a resting line of the A34s.

08/14/2026

We love to watch Pacific white-sided dolphins, but most marine mammals don't seem too thrilled when they're around! Off northern Vancouver Island they regularly mob resident killer whales, humpbacks, even sea lions!

It's absolutely wild to see the dolphins come charging in and make a beeline for the Northern Residents. One theory is that by being with fish-eating killer whales, they are safe from mammal-eating killer whales. Another is that they benefit by getting scraps of fish from foraging whales. A third is that it's just play, from the dolphin's perspective at least.

The Northern Residents often react to the dolphins by diving and becoming silent, but yesterday A61 Surge looked like he had finally had enough. As 20 or so Pacific white-sided dolphins zipped around him, he stopped his steady travel to twist, turn, and lunge, throwing his tail and slapping his pecs. Perhaps it was play to him, too, but if we can anthropmorphize for a moment, he looked for all the world like the whale equivalent of swatting flies!

08/13/2026

There's something about Northern Resident killer whales that exudes "togetherness". I'm struggling to put into words what it is, exactly, especially since we know Southern Residents have very similar family structure where males and females stay with their mothers for their entire lives. But there's something about how the Northern Residents punctuate their hours of being spread out and foraging with these quiet moments of close proximity, including logging at the surface together, often within physical contact. It's not something we see as often from the Southern Residents, at least not anymore.

Moments like these, of a line of dorsal fins at the surface, take your breath away every single time. Yesterday, it was the A25s and A67s, pictured here as they went south into Weynton Passage. -MWS

08/12/2026

We've had a couple encounters this week with the A34s (Northern Resident killer whales) off northern Vancouver Island, and noticed yesterday that A80 Hope is sporting a new minor injury! On August 6, you can see the trailing edge on his dorsal fin was pristine. Yesterday, however, there was a new wound that looks like it will probably heal into a small notch.

Zooming way in on the photos, in the right light we could also make out rake marks along the top of both sides of his dorsal consistent with killer whale teeth. Whether from rough-housing or some sort of discipline, these types of injuries are common in orcas and typically heal remarkably fast. We mostly thought it was worth noting as it might give him a new/unexpected feature when identifying him!

Address

Friday Harbor, WA

Website

http://www.orcabehaviorinstitute.org/

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