Puget Sound Gray Whales
Gray whale CRC2440 off the shores of Mukilteo Lighthouse Park (Photo: Sara Montour Lewis for Our Wild Puget Sound)
Puget Sound is lucky enough to be a seasonal home for dozens of fascinating gray whales, including a beloved subset of the Eastern North Pacific gray whales known locally as “the Sounders”. They first started showing up in 1990 to feast on ghost shrimp in the Whidbey Basin during their migration from their southern breeding grounds in the lagoons of Baja California to their northern feeding grounds of the Bering and Chukchi seas.
The Sounders historically would arrive in early March and stay until May, but in recent years that pattern has been less and less predictable as new whales are entering the fold, some are arriving earlier, some are staying much later, some are visiting new feeding grounds within Puget Sound, and some are skipping the rest of their northern migration entirely to stay here.
Our guide below includes the beloved Sounders, of course, but it also includes other individuals that have been spotted and identified in recent years.
Missing years — There are some gaps in the available information. If you see a ? for a certain year it means that we aren’t sure if they were spotted in the Sound. If you see a — it means we’ve confirmed that they weren’t seen that year.
CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITIES
Research — Cascadia Research Collective is based in Olympia and has been doing extensive research on gray whales and other marine mammals across the entire Pacific Ocean for over 40 years.
Sightings — Locally, Orca Network tracks sightings of killer whales and baleen whales daily and you can submit your sightings via their facebook page.
*These creatures are ever changing and we’re updating this list daily as we discover new (and old!) information. If you notice something that we’ve missed, or if you’ve had your own encounter with a gray whale in Puget Sound that you don’t think is listed here, please let us know in the comments!
Gray whales that have been spotted in Puget Sound in 2024 — 22, 53, 56, 356, 383, 543, 2246, 2249, 2259, 2356, 2362, 2441
*It’s a new year and we get to celebrate the return of the Sounders all over again! We’ll keep this updated as our beloved gray whales make their way into Puget Sound!
*last update: 4/14/2024
CRC21 / Shackleton — male
Shackleton was one of the very first Sounders and was also one of the first gray whales seen attempting the new feeding method of feeding in shallow waters. He’s frequently spotted with CRC22/Earhart. Shackleton rarely shows his fluke while diving, which is suspected to be due to an injury on his peduncle.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1990
1991
1992
1993
—
1995
?
?
1998
1999
2000
—
—
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2021
2022
2023
CRC22 / Earhart — female
Earhart is one of the few females in the group known as “the Sounders”. She was first spotted in 1990 with Shackleton and, along with him, is believed to have pioneered the risky shallow feeding method of feasting in the intertidal waters of Puget Sound. Earhart has never been seen with a calf, but she is generally only spotted every other year in the Sound and it’s suspected that during the years she isn’t spotted in Puget Sound she likely has a calf. Earhart was hit by a boat in 2017 that resulted in an injury to her left side, but she seems to have recovered and is still spotted in the Sound nearly every spring.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1990
1991
1992
1993
—
1995
?
?
1998
1999
2000
—
—
2003
—
2005
2006
—
2008
2009
2010
—
2012
2013
—
2015
—
2017
2018
2019
2020
—
2022
2023
2024
PUBLISHED ENCOUNTERS + STORIES
May 2022 — Picnic Point | Janine Harles
April 2022 — Possession Sound | Janine Harles
IDENTIFICATION
Dorsal Ridge | Left Side
(Video: Marilyn Armbruster)
CRC37
first spotted in 1988
CRC44 / Dubknuck — male
Dubknuck was first spotted in 1991 and is a favorite around Puget Sound, with a prominent “double knuckle” along his dorsal ridge, making him one of the easiest to identify and one of the Sounders that shows up almost every year. He was spotted in April of 2022 looking very thin, so we’re all pretty concerned about this Sounders mainstay who’s been gracing the Whidbey Basin for 30+ years and are crossing our fingers that he shows up this spring looking healthier.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1991
1992
1993
—
1995
?
?
—
1999
2000
2001
—
2003
2004
2005
—
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
CRC49 / Patch — male
Patch is one of the most identifiable Sounders with the large white patch on his right side. He returned to Puget Sound every year from 1991-2020, but wasn’t spotted in 2021 or 2022. In 2010 Patch was attacked by a group of Transient Killer Whales, including T087/Harbeson, in Saratoga Passage. Patch managed to protect his underside by rolling over for long enough that the killer whales left and Patch successfully fled.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
PUBLISHED ENCOUNTERS + STORIES
CRC53 / Little Patch — male
We think Little Patch likes to beat the buffet rush because he tends to show up to Puget Sound earlier than the rest of the Sounders, in recent years as early as December. He’s a fun individual to watch because he displays a lot of lunging behavior and he also has a voracious feeding style, leading some locals to give him an extra nickname of “Little Pig”.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1991
—
1993
1994
1995
?
?
—
1999
2000
—
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
—
—
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
—
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
IDENTIFICATION
Little patch has a white patch on his left side, earning him the fitting nickname. While foraging he most often shows his left fluke tip, making that another helpful tool for identifying him.
(Video: Marilyn Armbruster)
CRC56 / Stardust — male
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1991
—
—
—
—
?
?
1998
—
2000
2001
—
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
CRC185 / Gisborne — male
PCFG CRC-185 is a well-known member of the Pacific Coast Feeding Group, but he wasn’t seen in Puget Sound waters until 2018 when he spent two months inland feeding with the Sounders and is now an official Sounders himself as he’s been seen every year since then.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2020
2021
2022
2023
2018
2019
(Video: Alisa Lemire Brooks | Orca Network)
CRC356 / Carson
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1999
—
2001
—
2003
2004
—
2006
—
2008
2009
2010
—
—
—
2014
—
—
2017
—
2019
2021
2022
2023
2024
CRC383 / Cascade — male
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1999
—
2001
—
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
(Video: Bart Rulon | Puget Sound Express)
The gray whales we see here in March and April, the Sounders, employ a very unique feeding strategy that is definitely productive but also very risky. Gray whales are bottom feeders, and in Puget Sound they focus on eating sand shrimp, but they feed in much shallower water than most gray whales do. To access these 3-4 inch long crustaceans that live right on the sea floor the gray whales wait for the high tide to swim in and target the sand shrimp beds that are inaccessible at low tide. The risky part comes when they feed in water that is barely deep enough for them to swim in and they could get stuck! These gray whales arrive in our area very skinny from not eating while they are down in Mexico, where they do their mating and calving, but by the time they leave Washington to continue their northward migration they are significantly fattened up! Today our passengers on the M.V. Saratoga got front row seats to see just how they do it near the shores of Camano Island. The video here shows two gray whales feeding in water that is so shallow that the biggest of the two giants can't even get her body totally submerged as she tries to swim out to deeper water. In the beginning of the video you will see gray whale crc531, a confirmed female, roll over on her side and her pectoral fin sticks straight up in the air as she feeds. After she rolls back over, the pectoral fin from gray whale crc383, a confirmed male, comes out of the water as he feeds right next to her. Believe it or not, most gray whales tend to be "Righties", meaning they prefer to bottom feed on their right sides. Eventually this duo swims out towards deeper water, but notice that the back of 531 is exposed the whole time, meaning that her belly is probably scraping right up against the bottom as she goes. At the very end of the video 383 raises his head high out of the water in a maneuver we believe might be used to help them sift the sand and mud out of their mouths through the baleen plates, leaving only the food inside.
CRC396 — female
From 2001 through 2016 CRC396 was seen outside of Puget Sound, but she hasn’t been seen inside Puget Sound since 2009 and hasn’t been spotted at all since 2016.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
1999
2000
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2009
CRC531 / Bullseye — female
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2000
—
—
—
—
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
—
2013
2014
—
2016
—
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
CRC543
CRC543 was spotted in Puget Sound in 2022 and then again in 2023 after not being seen in the area for over two decades!
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2000
2022
2023
2024
CRC723 / Lucyfer — male
Lucyfer was originally named Lucy until he was discovered to be a male. He’s frequently spotted in Saratoga Passage and Possession Sound.
*There’s some conflicting information on 2013 sightings. Cascadia Research lists him as absent in 2013, but we’ve discovered three separate sightings in March + April of 2013.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2000
—
—
—
2004
2005
2006
—
—
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013*
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2021
2022
PUBLISHED SIGHTINGS
CRC1364
CRC1364 was first identified in coastal Washington waters in 2011 and then was spotted inland in Puget Sound in 2021
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2021
CRC2234
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2018
CRC2246
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
—
2024
CRC2249 / Hattie
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2019
—
2021
2022
2023
2024
CRC2255
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2019
—
2021
CRC2259
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
PUBLISHED ENCOUNTERS + STORIES
CRC2261
2261 was first spotted in 2020 feeding in the shallows of Skagit Bay and the upper Saratoga Passage.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2020
2021
PUBLISHED ENCOUNTERS + STORIES
CRC2262
2262 + 2259 were first spotted together in 2020, feeding in the Snohomish River Delta
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2020
CRC2356 / Stalwart
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
(Video: Marilyn Armbruster)
CRC2362 / Thidwick
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2021
2022
2023
2024
PUBLISHED ENCOUNTERS + STORIES
CRC2440 / Tahoma
This gray whale was first spotted near Victoria, BC in January of 2022 and has been eating its way around the Salish Sea ever since, delighting beachgoers with its pension for near-shore passes and stressing out researchers with its long stints in high-traffic areas. This goofball is a favorite of Our Wild Puget Sound’s founder, Sara, and if you’ve run into her on a beach lately she’s probably talked your ear off about it (sorry not sorry). It also has been nicknamed ‘Gus’ by some whale-watching residents of Port Susan and word on the Sound is that it did some barrel rolls in 2022, revealing that it might be a male, but this hasn’t officially been confirmed yet.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2022
2023
PUBLISHED ENCOUNTERS + STORIES
IDENTIFICATION
CRC2440 has a prominent white patch on the top of its back in front of the dorsal ridge, which is helpful for identifying this individual.
CRC2441
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2022
2023
2024
CRC2447
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2022
CRC2460
This whale was first spotted near Point Defiance in Tacoma in September of 2022.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2022
CRC2506
CRC2506 is a 2023 newbie that was just spotted in Puget Sound in March of 2023.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2023
“SHRIMP”
This gray whale showed up in Oro Bay on Anderson Island in November of 2021 in concerning condition. The local residents took it upon themselves to monitor it while it was there for nearly a month and gave it the nickname of Shrimp in the hopes that it was finding enough to forage on and could recuperate.
YEARS SIGHTED IN PUGET SOUND
2021
