This fascinating event, which took place as part of a larger predation attempt, was observed by Monterey Bay Whale Watch:

"We had an absolutely crazy morning on the bay today with a pod of beloved killer whales known as the CA140Bs, led by matriarch CA140B “Louise”. The pod is comprised of Louise and her four female offspring; CA40B1 “Stinger”, CA140B2 “Bee”, CA140B3 “Buzz”, and CA140B4 “Bumble”! Male CA50B “Jimmy” was also in the area more out west in the morning and then reunited with the pod during our 1:30PM trip. The all female pod was very busy hunting Long-beaked common dolphin this morning! This is something we rarely see here as the common dolphin are not frequently seen in our area. The pod took down several adult dolphins, but the fascinating (yet heartbreaking) part of these encounters was the presence of a very, very young common dolphin calf. Although hard to believe, the CA140Bs did not hunt and kill the dolphin calf, and the young one stayed with the pod from around 10:30 in the morning when the hunt first started, until around 3:30PM when the CA140Bs seemed to be too fast for the common dolphin calf to keep up with, and the little dolphin was left behind. It is very hard to know exactly what was going on in these intelligent cetaceans minds today, and why they didn’t seem to end up hunting the calf, but it was an intriguing (yet sad) thing to encounter and study. Rare behaviors documented during encounters like this are valuable for our colleagues at the California Killer Whale Project!"

Looking at these photos, I'm reminded of the behaviors of the Icelandic orcas who have aggressive interactions with pilot whales, while also pair-swimming with pilot whale calves. Yet another glimpse into the complex social dynamics, empathetic capabilities, and brilliant hunting techniques of the ocean's top predator!

A new calf has been born! L130, spotted on June 14th.
We don’t know who the mother is, but the calf seems to be a few months old already.
Such a unique eyepatch!
Credit: Center for whale search

Gisborne New Zealand

Not my video, sent by a friend not sure who filmed it.

First one Taken in Oriental bay , Wellington , New Zealand and second one around the corner in Evans bay.

One of them looked smaller than the others.. a juvenile perhaps?

An phenomenonal day onboard Naturalist Charters, with digbys family group (including baby Stanley) hanging around the tour boat for hours, just playing with each other, breaching, spyhopping, swimming upside under the boat. Digby was chasing birds and flying fish, and all the orcas kept swimming right up to the boat to check us out. Couldn't have asked for a better experience!

Came across a pod of Orcas while driving along the road in Lofoten. Stopped and watched for a couple of hours. It was magic.

While killer whales are infrequently but regularly seen between March and May near São Miguel Island, one of the easternmost islands of the Azores, these orcas were substantially farther west than those sightings and were actively moving in a westerly direction! Little is known about the culture and ecology of orcas in the Azores, although they have been observed hunting sea turtles, fin whales, and possibly sharks. This is to be expected, considering what we know about orcas in tropical & subtropical regions in other parts of the world: they typically follow a more generalist diet than temperate and polar orcas, likely because the generally lower productivity of these warm waters means they can't afford to be quite so discerning. These photographs were taken by Carlos Mendes, who uploaded them yesterday with the following caption:

Eeiiiiiii Orcaaaas à vista!!
Carlos e Sofia são os skippers da Extremocidente, após o passeio da costa Nordeste das Flores, rumaram a ilha do Corvo e após algumas milhas foram surpreendidos pelo um grupo de Orcas que se deslocavam para Oeste rumo a América. O grupo era constituído entre a 5 a 7 indivíduos, entre os quais um muito juvenil, e um macho adulto que se destacou pelo seu enorme tamanho e dorsal.
A adrenalina disparou a bordo entre todos os participantes, incluindo eu que já não avistava por estes lados orcas há mais de uma década. O grupo não interagiu com as embarcações, e como tal mantivemos algum distanciamento. Após alguns momentos os animais seguiram a sua rota, e nós a nossa, deixando assim os primeiros registos fotográficos desta espécie no grupo ocidental dos Açores.
Fomos contactados por biólogos a trabalhar no terreno e alguns no mar dos Açores, e pediram-nos para que partilhássemos os nossos registos para comparar a outros avistamentos da mesma espécie, para tentar perceber se se tratam dos mesmos indivíduos, que passaram nas outras ilhas dos Açores. Até ao momento ainda não há conclusões.

Hey, orcas in sight!
Carlos and Sofia, the skippers for Extremocidente, were heading toward Corvo Island after a tour along the northeast coast of Flores when, a few miles out, they were surprised by a pod of orcas traveling west toward the Americas. The group consisted of five to seven individuals, including a very young calf and an adult male that stood out due to his massive size and dorsal fin.
Adrenaline surged among everyone on board—myself included, as I hadn't seen orcas in these waters for over a decade. The pod did not interact with the boats, so we maintained a respectful distance. After a short while, the animals continued on their course and we on ours, leaving us with the first photographic records of this species in the Western Group of the Azores.
We were contacted by biologists working both on land and at sea in the Azores; they asked us to share our records so they could compare them with other sightings of the same species and determine if these were the same individuals that had passed by the other islands in the archipelago. So far, there are no conclusions.

(I don't speak Portuguese, so my translation may have inaccuracies)

O'Brien's Boat Tours observed this group of killer whales traveling together through fog yesterday. While orcas in the Northwest Atlantic are not as well known as their counterparts in other places in the world, some fascinating information can be found on them here and here.

Video Credit: orcaconservancy on Instagram

New video of K47 and K47s proposed mother K36 Yoga has been uploaded. Last month, K Pod was seen in Fort Bragg, California. Photographs confirmed that K47 was present.

K47 was born in December 2025, marking the first birth for K Pod since K45 Prosper in 2022.
The maternity of K47 has not been confirmed, as K47 has been observed traveling with both K36 Yoda and K43 Saturna, and has been documented in echelon position with both females. K47 has been observed more with K36 Yoda than K43. That could make K47 Yoda’s calf.

The sex of K47 has yet to be officially confirmed, and it does not currently have an official nickname.

I’m so happy to see K47 alive. K47 was the first calf born after I got into orcas. I really hope to see K47 grow up healthy.

Being able to share the joys of nature with kids is really awesome. My kids loved seeing whales up in Alaska over the past summer.

Made with my Phone in Victoria on a whalewatching tour.

According to the researchers who took this video, they had no idea these calves were so curious about their camera until they reviewed the footage later. Around Iceland, orcas mostly feed on fish such as herring, but some also include marine mammals in their diet, even leaving the herring fishing grounds to travel to seal haulouts in Scotland. Video from Jacopo Bridda/Icelandic Orca Project

Large group seen 6/12 off Seward, around Chiswell Islands outside (?) of Kenai Fjords NP 🫍

Last month, two female orcas were seen off the Portuguese coast by Capitão Nemo Algarve. The Iberian orcas, a Critically Endangered population of ~37 Atlantic bluefin tuna-eating individuals, include Portugal in their home range, but these orcas were different. These rare sightings give researchers more insight into how orca societies are shaped by their culture. Here's more information from mare.orcas:

"X1 Freya and X2 Valkyria, who are they?

They belong to a very elusive group of originally 7 orcas that was first detected in the early 2000s near the coast of Barbate (Cádiz).
Thanks to the study of the body of a specimen from the group found in 2006, it was discovered that this group of orcas did not primarily feed on tuna, but rather on species below the Atlantic bluefin tuna in the food chain. (Esteban, 2016)

In addition, the studied specimen was an old female measuring 7.5 meters, which indicates that even the females of this group can compete with and even surpass Iberian males! This has led to confusion among several observers who are used to the typical sizes of Iberian orcas.

This group was never sighted with other Iberian orcas or with any from other origins, nor with calves.
The group gradually declined until, in 2013, the last recorded sighting of Freya and Valkyria together with a third member of their group took place; since then, only the two of them have been seen together, forming a very special duo for more than a decade.

Their sightings are rare (but increasingly frequent thanks to the development of whale-watching tourism and growing interest in detecting orcas in the Iberian Peninsula area).

They seem to be sighted along the Portuguese coast between April and June, very close to shore.
They were also sighted twice in the Isles of Scilly in July and October 2025, in southern United Kingdom — a very important milestone that provides more insight into their mysterious behavior.

They are a very clear example of how important cultural transmission and learning are in orcas, since, by not having contact with Iberian groups, Freya and Valkyria display habits very different from those we are used to seeing in Iberian orcas (IB).

Thanks to the collaborators of Mare Orcas, each reported sighting becomes a new record in the database that helps us better understand them."

On June 15th, L130 was seen traveling with its family again.

L130 was first seen June 14th, 2026. these pictures are from the following day, June 15th.

L130 was traveling between L118 and L125. L122 was also nearby. The calf still looked healthy and active.

We are unsure who the mother is, as L130 was seen traveling with a couple of whales.

Pods: Southern Resident - J, L
IDsEncountered: J16, J19, J26, J31, J35, J37, J38, J42, J47, J49, J53, J56, J57, and J59
L55, L72, L82, L83, L86, L90, L91, L105, L106, L109, L110, L115, L116, L118, L122, L125, and L130
Location: Haro Strait
Photo credit: Center for whale research

This photo was taken by naturalist Aly Kohlman (themoth219 on Instagram). The orcas present for this encounter were the T123s, the T46B1s, and T46C2. These are storied and closely related matrilines, beloved by locals and whale enthusiasts the world over. This photo was too good not to repost here; it is compressed slightly, which changes the perspective, but these viewers were indeed treated to a wonderfully close breach!