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This photo provided by Hongming Zheng shows two killer whales, part of a pod of orcas that had not been seen in the Seattle region before, swimming near Dash Point, Wash., on March 26, 2026. (Hongming Zheng via AP) (Hongming Zheng)<\/p>\n
A new pod of killer whales has been captivating observers in Seattle, making several unexpected appearances in Puget Sound this past month.<\/p>\n
Three orcas, previously unrecorded in the area, have been spotted cruising near the city’s downtown skyline and other regional shorelines. Their presence has delighted whale watchers, who typically see tourists enjoying the iconic views, now shared with these magnificent marine visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople<\/a> … are all very happy to see this,\u201d said Hongming Zheng, who photographs whales in his spare time. It took him 10 hours of driving to find the mysterious pod. \u201cIt was epic.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers keep detailed records of killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea, the waters between Washington state and Canada<\/a>, by identifying their fins and saddle patches \u2014 the grayish markings on their sides.<\/p>\n So it was a surprise when this pod of three orcas showed up in Vancouver<\/a>, British Columbia<\/a>, in March. The three weren\u2019t in any catalogs of local whales.<\/p>\n After some digging, researchers located photos of the pod in Alaska<\/a> waters last year, said Shari Tarantino of the Washington-based Orca Conservancy. The pod includes an adult female and what are believed to be her two offspring, including a large young adult male.<\/p>\n They have now been designated as T419, T420 and T421 \u2014 the T standing for \u201ctransient,\u201d not \u201ctourist.\u201d<\/p>\n A killer whale swims in Elliott Bay in front of the downtown Seattle skyline on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. The orca is a part of a pod that had not been recorded by researchers in this region until this past month when three whales appeared in waters off British Columbia and Washington state. (AP Photo\/Manuel Valdes) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n The visiting orcas have something that local whales don\u2019t: circular scars left by cookie-cutter sharks, which latch on to larger animals and slice a chunk off them. It was evidence they’ve spent time in the open ocean, because that’s where the sharks live.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know their exact origin with 100% certainty yet, but the leading hypothesis is that they\u2019re from Alaska<\/a>, possibly the Aleutian region, given their appearance and the fact that some Alaskan populations range widely across the North Pacific,\u201d Tarantino wrote in an email.<\/p>\n As for why these three are thousands of miles from their home range? Tarantino said it’s possible they’re on a culinary field trip. This pod feeds on sea mammals \u2014 unlike the endangered salmon-eating resident orcas \u2014 and there are plenty of harbor seals, sea lions and porpoises in the Salish Sea.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/42859e0817ce597dba60aad4f51cda03.jpeg\"\/)
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