An orca whale breaches the surface of the water off Seattle on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. The whale was part of a pod that swam by the West Seattle neighborhood, attracting onlookers to shore. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
An orca whale breaches the surface of the water off Seattle on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. The whale was part of a pod that swam by the West Seattle neighborhood, attracting onlookers to shore. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
A person watchesa pod of orca whales swimming off Seattle on Friday, January 16, 2026. The pod swam by the West Seattle neighborhood, attracting onlookers to shore. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
People watch a pod of orca whales swimming off Seattle on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. The pod swam by the West Seattle neighborhood, attracting onlookers to shore. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
With breaches and tail slapping, a pod of orca whales put on a show near Seattle on Friday.
The close encounter attracted dozens of people to the shore of the West Seattle neighborhood. Whale watchers identified the pod as Bigg's killer whales, a group that hunts sea mammals and lives in the Salish Sea. The pod was seemingly hunting.
Among the people watching from Alki beach was Summer Staley. She drove from across the city to catch the whales after seeing a post on the Orca Network's Facebook page alerting of the pod's arrival. The group tracks whales using reports from people on land and in the water.
“It’s just such a beautiful connection with nature and with the universe to be sharing the same space with these beautiful creatures,†said Staley, who has seen the whales a few dozen times over the last year. “How lucky am I to be able to share this space with them?â€
The whales breached and tail slapped for about hour. Sea birds and a bald eagle trailed the pod, looking for scraps.
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