Famous Whale “Chainsaw” Is In The House
Among the group of Bigg’s killer whales spotted was the adult male whale T063, fondly known to naturalists and whale researchers as ‘Chainsaw’ due to his distinctive dorsal fin.
Photo credit: April Ryan, Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching/PWWA
Distinctive Killer Whale Makes Rare Visit to San Juan Islands
FRIDAY HARBOR, WA (March 29, 2021) – The Pacific Whale Watch Association today announced sighting of a rare visitor to the San Juan Islands. “Chainsaw is in the house,” exclaimed Jeff Friedman, owner of the Friday Harbor-based whale watching company Maya’s Legacy. Friedman and his passengers got a first-hand look Monday at more than ten Bigg’s killer whales swimming slowly north through Haro Strait.
Among the group of Bigg’s killer whales Friedman spotted the adult male whale T063, fondly known to naturalists and whale researchers as ‘Chainsaw’ due to his distinctive dorsal fin.
According to Sara McCullagh, captain of the Sea Lion, a coast guard certified whale watch vessel owned by San Juan Safaris out of Friday Harbor, “It was a bit of a spread across Haro Strait with the T010s, T065 and T063 on the border pointed at Turn Point, the T036As and T049As cruising the Stuart Island shoreline, while the T071s were nearby on the Canadian side of the border.”
It was a beautiful day on the water to watch whales,” says McCullagh, “and it’s always fun to see Chainsaw. He’s a bucket-list animal for a lot of us in the whale watching community.”
Easily distinguished from other whales, Chainsaw’s dorsal fin has several large notches in the top third of his fin that gives the appearance of a large saw blade. At some point during his youth Chainsaw lost two large chunks in the trailing edge of his dorsal fin, possibly due to a bite from a seal or sea lion, favored prey of Bigg’s killer whales.
Accompanied by his presumed mother T065, along with the T010s and T071s, the killer whales left the visitors aboard several whale watching boats in awe of the experience as the whales swam north in Haro Strait. ‘Chainsaw’ is believed to have been born in 1978 and regularly travels with his mother T065 ‘Whidbey II.’
While not frequently seen in the inland waters, naturalists have come to expect that spring is when they might see T063 ‘Chainsaw,’ so Monday’s report was welcome news among the professional whale watching community. The distinctive adult male is also reported to travel up the coast of Canada as far as Southeast Alaska, where he is known as ‘Zorro’ to whale researchers and naturalists there.
Throughout the inland waters of Washington and British Columbia, there are nearly 400 Bigg’s killer whales that have been identified and catalogued in the region at one time or another. Bigg’s killer whales are increasing in numbers due to the abundance of prey such as seals and sea lions, unlike the endangered Southern Resident killer whales which are struggling due to declining numbers of their preferred prey, Chinook salmon.
