Two More Whales Wash Up on Washington Coast This Week: One a Rarity

Published 04/19/26 at 8:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Ocean Shores, Washington) - Two more whales have washed ashore on the Washington coast, making this the 11th gray whale body on Pacific Northwest beaches since late March. The other was a rarer find and an outlier, in terms of the current run of whales. (Photo CRC / WCMMSN)

A Baird's beaked whale hit the sands of Moclips on Friday, according to NOAA spokesman Michael Milstein. The gray whale came ashore at Ocean Shores on Saturday.

Both Milstein and Seaside Aquarium manager Keith Chandler said the Baird's whale was too decayed to perform a necropsy - and it was incredibly stinky and had been dead for quite some time.

The aquarium's Tiffany Boothe managed to snap at least one photo.

It is fairly rare to find one along the Oregon or Washington coast, so this was an oddity and definitely not connected to anything with the run of gray whale deaths up and down the West Coast.

“The Baird's beaked whale was too decomposed for a necropsy, so no obvious cause of death or other details,” Milstein told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “There is a population off the West Coast but they are typically in distant waters, diving deep for long periods, so little is known about them. They have stranded in the Northwest before but rarely. In contrast to gray whales, which feed on bottom sediments primarily in the Arctic, Baird's beaked whales prey on fish, squid and other species off the West Coast.”

Seaside Aquarium

The gray whale in Ocean Shores came up Saturday, becoming the latest in a list of dead grays with similar circumstances that is far too long. That one is being examined by Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) and the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

The CRC has listed seven other grays in Washington since late March (nine if you count all of 2026). With the three in Oregon and the latest in Washington that makes 11 in the Pacific Northwest since March 26 - 13 for the entire year.

“The Ocean Shores whale was an adult male, about 40 feet long.” Milstein told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “No signs of trauma or obvious cause of death. Malnourished but not as emaciated as some others this spring.”

Undernourished gray whales have been stranding on Pacific Northwest beaches in a sizable rush as of late, starting with one in Florence in late March. Three dead grays washed up in Washington later (including one that had wandered into a coastal river), one was found in Yachats and then another in Seaside last week. All six had some or sizable evidence of being too thin, but some of the bodies were too bloated to tell for certain.

Another gray whale wandered into the inland sea of Skagit County, but its fate is unknown at this time.

So why so many whales washing up dead lately?

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There are two major factors coinciding: the migration brings more of them and there have been a lot of west winds.

Chandler said west winds blow objects onto the Oregon coast and Washington coastline, like all the velella velella that have been seen in recent weeks.

“If a lot of velella come in, whales will wash up too,” Chandler told Oregon Coast Beach Connection.

Baird's Beaked whales - courtesy NOAA

The other large factor is the spring migration. If there are more whales in an area, more of the dead ones will wash up.

The underfed whale issue seems to be prominent in the cause of death, and that has whale experts worried.

In March, the Marine Mammal Stranding Network's (MMSN) Jim Rice talked to Oregon Coast Beach Connection about the whale at Florence.

“We know that lots of gray whales have been stranding along the entire west coast since 2019," Rice said. "The bottom line is that these whales are having a hard time finding enough to eat during their summer foraging seasons in the arctic, causing many of them to become malnourished."

Numerous gray whales have washed up in California lately as well, although the cause of seven of them in the San Francisco Bay area appears to be ship strikes.

For background see the article 'Skinny Whales' Remain Issue on Washington / Oregon Coast, But May Be Lessening

More Odd Washington Coast Whale News: Another Seen Inland, Some Necropsy Results

 

 

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