Mysterious Orca 'Chainsaw' Sighted Near The San Juans

SEATTLE — Whale lovers are celebrating a rare sighting of a distinctive orca this week near the San Juan Islands.

The whale in question, "Chainsaw," is known for his famous look — two large notches near the top of his dorsal fin. How he got his scars remains unknown, though researchers guess he probably got them in a scrape with a seal or sea lion. Both are common prey for Bigg’s killer whales like Chainsaw.

Chainsaw, also called T063 by researchers, is fairly reclusive, so it was a surprise when whale watchers spotted him and his family Monday. Whale watching company Maya’s Legacy had a boat in the water near the Canadian border when they saw 10 Bigg’s killer whales, including Chainsaw, swimming north.

"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,” Capt. Sara McCullagh told the Pacific Whale Watch Association.

The Pacific Whale Watch Association says it had hoped for a Chainsaw sighting at least once this spring, and that his appearance is welcome news for whale watchers far and wide.

"It was a beautiful day on the water to watch whales, and it’s always fun to see Chainsaw. He’s a bucket-list animal for a lot of us in the whale watching community," McCullagh said.

Chainsaw's parentage is not totally clear, but it's believed he was born to T065, or Whidbey II, back in 1978. The Pacific Whale Watch Association says that Chainsaw is not often seen in inland waters, so Monday's sighting was particularly rare. Chainsaw is more often seen up the coast of Canada, and can travel as far as Southeast Alaska.

By the way, up in Canada, Chainsaw is known locally as "Zorro" — the jury is still out on which name is cooler.

Unlike the Southern Resident killer whales, which are a much more common sighting in the Pacific Northwest, Bigg's killer whales like Chainsaw are not listed as endangered, and have actually seen their numbers grow to nearly 400 over the past few years. Bigg's killer whales, sometimes called "transient" whales, also have a fairly loose social structure and don't form close groupings, or pods, the same way Southern Residents do.

Another reason they're harder to spot: They don't breach, echolocate or play as much as the Southern Residents, preferring to stay silent as to get the jump on their prey.