Lauren | M/V Osprey | Sunday, August 10th, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Each killer whale in the Coastal Bigg’s Population is given an alphanumeric designation and they are also given a nickname. The industry professionals in this region are in charge of nicknaming these whales. We put forth ideas and then all vote to determine the winning name. Many of the nicknames are random, while others have a more intentional theme. For the T109A’s there are two main themes that were considered when giving names. Many of the whales in this group are named after killer whale researchers, while others are named after different bodies of water found in British Columbia. The latest two calves in this family to be named were T109A7/Wieland and T109A8/Weiss. These two youngsters were named after two of San Juan Island's most influential researchers, Micheal Weiss from the Center for Whale Research and Monika Wieland Shields from Orca Behavior Institute.
T109A4/Garrett and the late T109A3/Spong are also named after regional researchers. Howard Garrett is famous for his work with Orca Network and The Center for Whale Research, while Paul Spong is best known for being the co-director of OrcaLab and president of the non-profit Pacific Orca Society. T109A3/Spong’s death made international news last year when she stranded in a lagoon near Zeballos on the westside of Vancouver Island. T109A3/Spong was traveling with her two year old calf T109A3A/Kʷiisaḥiʔis also known as Brave Little Hunter. The two year old stayed in the lagoon for nearly 30 days before she finally swam free. The last confirmed sighting of Brave Little Hunter was in July of 2024, with a possible unconfirmed sighting in November 2024. Everytime we encounter the T109A’s or T109A2’s we are always hopeful there will be another calf in tow, and that T109A3A found her extended family. Alas, this has not happened yet.
Our Sunday Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour left Friday Harbor and headed straight for a confirmed whale report. The T109A’s had been found near Sidney Island but were heading northwest, quickly getting far out of reach. After an hour transit we finally made our way to this group of six whales. The whales we had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with were:
- T109A/Frio/Runaway — (F) 1990
- T109A4/Garrett— (M) 2012
- T109A5/Argyle — (?) 2014
- T109A6/Riley — (?) 2018
- T109A7/Wieland — (?) 2021
- T109A8/Weiss — (?) 2025
We got great looks at these whales as they traveled in a tight group up the Sidney shoreline. After leaving these animals we made a quick stop at Spieden Island to view some non-native mouflon sheep on the hillside, then we made our way back to Friday Harbor.
Check out our SmugMug to see photos of all the wildlife from today’s trip at https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/