ISLAND COUNTY, Wash. — More than ten Bigg’s killer whales were spotted in the San Juan Islands by whale watching vessels, including a male orca known to naturalists and whale researchers as “Chainsaw,” due to his distinctive dorsal fin, the Pacific Whale Watch Association said.
“Chainsaw is in the house,” said Jeff Friedman, owner of the whale watching company Maya’s Legacy, whose passengers got a look at the whales seen swimming slowly north through Haro Strait on Monday.
Researchers say what makes T063 Chainsaw so distinctive is several large notches in the top third of his dorsal fin that makes it look like a large saw blade. At some point during his youth, the whale lost two large chunks in the trailing edge of his dorsal fin, possibly from a bite from a seal or sea lion, which are favored prey of Bigg’s killer whales, PWWA said.
“It was a beautiful day on the water to watch whales, and it’s always fun to see Chainsaw. He’s a bucket-list animal for a lot of us in the whale watching community,” said Sara McCullagh, captain of the whale watching vessel Sea Lion.
Chainsaw is believed to have been born in 1978 and regularly travels with his presumed mother, T065 Whidbey II.
Though Chainsaw isn’t regularly seen in the inland waters, naturalists have come to expect that spring is when they might get a glimpse of the whale. He is also reported to travel up the coast of Canada as far as Southeast Alaska, where he is known as “Zorro” to the whale watching community there.
PWWA says there are nearly 400 Bigg’s killer whales that have been identified and catalogued throughout the inland waters of Washington and British Columbia.
Unlike the endangered Southern Resident killer whales, which are struggling because of the declining numbers their preferred prey, Chinook salmon, the number of Bigg’s killer whales, which are transient, are increasing due to large numbers of seals and sea lions.
For more information, visit https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com.