El Niño Drives Pod of Killer Whales to Southern California Coast
Orcas, typically found in warmer waters, were sighted in unusual numbers off Newport Beach due to elevated ocean temperatures.
A pod of 10 to 13 killer whales, or orcas, was observed swimming near a whale-watching boat off the coast of Newport Beach in Orange County, California. This sighting marks an unusual occurrence, as these marine apex predators are typically native to the warmer waters off Mexico and Central America.
The presence of the orcas in Southern California is attributed to abnormally high ocean temperatures, a phenomenon linked to the current El Niño event. These warmer waters have prompted the whales to travel north.
Newport Landing Whale Watching, which observed the pod, noted on social media that this particular group of eastern tropical Pacific killer whales has visited Newport Beach multiple times before, with previous sightings in 2018, 2023, 2024, and 2026. They shared a video of the rare encounter.
Alisa Schulman-Janiger, lead biologist for the California Killer Whale Project, identified several individuals within the pod, including four mothers: Ana, Baja Nicki, Top Notch, and Kali. Other known individuals present were Cookie and Coronado. The California Killer Whale Project has been tracking these animals since 1987, focusing on long-term population dynamics and predation patterns.
This event follows other notable marine wildlife sightings in the region influenced by El Niño. Recently, an endangered sea turtle species laid eggs in two separate nests on Orange County beaches, a historically unprecedented location for the species. Additionally, a large hammerhead shark was spotted near Malibu Pier earlier in August, marking the first such sighting in Southern California in nearly a decade.