Report: Newest Southern Resident orca calf spotted swimming with K Pod off Oregon Coast

BELLINGHAM — Video of killer whales shot off the Oregon Coast last week reportedly showed a new orca calf traveling with the K Pod.

Washington state non-profit research group Wild Orca announced the latest addition to the Southern Resident population in a news release Saturday, April 30. The calf is the first born into K Pod since 2011, according to the release.

It also would be the second Southern Resident orca calf spotted in the past two months, following a J Pod birth reported in early March.

Wild Orca research assistant Melisa Pinnow confirmed from the video, which was shot April 28, that the newest calf was swimming alongside 36-year-old female K20, also known as Spock, according to the release. Dr. Deborah Giles notified the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Center for Whale Research.

“I am beyond thrilled to learn that K20 is a mom again,” Giles said in the release. “She’s been my favorite whale for decades, and the fact that she’s been pregnant so many times without bringing a calf to full term in recent years, this is huge.”

Giles has been part of the team that collected fecal samples from K20 that revealed multiple pregnancies over the past decade, according to the release, and she also photographed K20 when she was heavily pregnant in 2020. But last week was the first time she has been spotted with a calf since the birth of K38, also known as Comet, in 2004, the release states.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, the Center for Whale Research listed 73 Southern Resident orcas, including 24 members of the J Pod, 33 members of the L Pod and 16 members of the K Pod.