Oodles of Orcas: Latest Run of Oregon Coast Killer Whales ID'd

Published 05/13/26 at 7:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Yachats, Oregon) – The days leading up to Mom Day were rather eventful along the Oregon coast. The buzz was everywhere about orca sightings: killer whales had been popping up everywhere from Lincoln City down to the southern coast and Coos Bay area.

This cropped photo above, taken by Donelda Higgins during the Cape Arago sighting, shows T038C (born 2008). The image captures the distinctive white mark on his right side and provides a clear view of his eye patch.

Even in April, killer whale events skyrocketed, with one group especially making a spectacle marauding around Newport and captured on video quite close. Tens of feet from humans.

Then it kicked in again during the first days of May, and then once more this weekend. They zipped around Yachats and just south of there, and soon began a few days of hunting south coast waters.

One local whale expert managed to ID them the whole time. Julie Conrad looked through numerous photographs and gave this timeline to Oregon Coast Beach Connection.

The surprise is it was a different pod down south than what was seen earlier up north.

May 5 - Two orcas were reported hunting a California sea lion between Coos Bay and Winchester Bay, a sighting witnessed by commercial crabbers.

May 6 - Four orcas, including T038C and T038E, were seen near Cape Arago at 2:53 p.m. The group was spotted again on the south Oregon coast.

“They were spotted again at Simpson Reef at 3:15 p.m.,” Conrad said. “They were seen again from Umpqua River Lighthouse near Winchester Bay from about 6:30-8:15 p.m. as they hunted harbor seals.”

May 8 - Two orcas were observed heading north from the Sea Lion Caves at 4 p.m. They were seen again just south of Yachats at 5:33 p.m.

May 9 - Two orcas were spotted heading south from Salishan Spit near Lincoln City at 7:19 a.m.

May 10 - Several orcas were seen around Pacific City at 12:45 p.m., including one bull that appeared to be hunting.

Those seen earlier in May on the central coast were the T049B's, Conrad said, which are led by matriarch T049B (born 1992), and include T049B2 (2010), T049B3 (born 2013), T049B4 (born 2019), and T049B5 (born 2024). So there ended up a mom theme in the sightings.

What all this means for anyone heading to the coast over the next month is simple: it’s peak whale-watching season for both grays and orcas. In fact, online reports of orcas often wind up dominating the usual Facebook groups this time of year.

So what exactly are they doing around here?

Six Orcas Dazzle Oregon Coast - Pacific Northwest Sees 2st Gray Whale Wash Up - Oregon had its fifth dead gray whale; orcas heading south

Being apex predators, they make a special commute to this area to gobble up baby seals and sea lions that are born this time of year. They typically stay through June - and it often is the busiest then. They are generally gone by July.

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