Fireball seen as orca rescue underway in Uruguay

2026, April 26. Uruguay, Playa Mansa, Punta del Este. An orca(killer whale) calf stranded on a beach. After failed rescue attempts, the whale was euthanised. A team continued efforts to save the animal under difficult weather conditions. The animal had stayed close to the shore, showing signs of weakness.

2026, April 27. Uruguay, Playa Mansa. Fireball. Time: around 01:54 UT or 22:51LT. The event was recorded by security cameras and widely observed in Argentina and Uruguay. Duration 6+ seconds. Fragmented over Maldonado. No reports of sonic boom. Seen in Punta del Este, Buenos Aires Province, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Maldonado Department, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Santa Fe. This is the first report of a fireball in Uruguay this year.  

Also: New Zealand, North Island. It had a flurry of activity on the 26th, 27th and 28th across the North Island. One meteor detected on camera was over 10 seconds in duration, low and slow. Overall, about half a dozen were detected over water on both sides of the Island down to Cook Strait, with three stretching over a region of sky south of Auckland (Pacific/Tasman Sea). No NASA airbursts or AMS were logged or reported within the time frame, so it's a wait-and-see scenario. The atmosphere (globally) has been quiet, with the risk of a mass stranding (as I see it) regarded as low. Spyhopping whales on the 24th is a strong indicator that something is annoying them, but hopefully, like the past Chatham Island whales, they will settle. Just a reminder, if meteors are being picked up on camera of a night that restricted time frame allows for added objects not detected during daylight hours so the flux could be much higher than observed.

New Zealand stranding update after meteor

2025, November 29. New Zealand, east of South Island over the ocean. Long Duration Meteor. Time: 03.21. Duration: 15+ seconds. Travelling in a SW direction at 71.8 km/s. Height: (151 to 118km). See November 29th post. 

2025, December 10. New Zealand, SE South Island, Dunedin, Waitati, Blueskin Bay. A juvenile bottlenose dolphin was found stranded and refloated. The dolphin was approximately 600 metres from the water and alone.

2025, December 14. New Zealand, SE South Island, Oamaru. A dead Orca (Killer Whale) was located floating from shore in a moderate state of decomposition.  

Image: Oamaru Live Facebook

Southern Ocean Meteor Airburst

Another meteor airburst in this region at this time of year is not great for cetaceans. See the October 17 post regarding Orca deaths in Argentina.

2025, November 15. Southern Ocean, approximately 1500km SW of South America and 1300 km NW of Antarctica. Airburst. Time: 00:48:43. Coordinates: 62.2S, 94.7W. Altitude: 30.0 km. Energy: e = 10.5e10 and 0.32 or 320,000 kg/TNT. This is the 30th airburst of 2025.

Also, like other regions in the world, there has been a high influx of material coming into the UK/Eastern Europe region with corresponding strandings. There will be a delay in data collection, but I will update as soon as it becomes available.

Mysterious mass stranding of orcas in Argentina

The following meteor airburst events occurred between June 3rd, 2024, and September 13th, 2025. The last one was over land; however, it shows how active the atmosphere has been in the region. The map shows airbursts detected by NASA dating back to 2000, a 25-year time frame, indicating that this area has experienced well-above-average events.

2024, June 3. Southern Ocean, South America – Antarctica region. Airburst. Time: 01:13. Coordinates: (63.1S, 53.2W). e = 2.6. -e = 0.092 or 94,000 kg/TNT. Altitude: 60km. Velocity: N.A.

2024, September 23. South Atlantic Ocean. Airburst. Time: 06:37. Coordinates: (45.6S, 31.9W). Energy: e = 5.5, -e = 0.18 or 180,000 kg/TNT. Altitude: 69km. Velocity: N.A.

2024, September 28. Southern Ocean, between South America and Antarctica. Airburst. Coordintes: ( 59.8S, 51.8W). Energy: 0.32kt, or 320,000 kg/TNT. Time: 00:10:19. This was only 374 km N.W from the Airburst on June 3. This event was over 4 times more powerful than the South Africa event on August 25 that caused a sonic boom heard over 160km of coastline.

2024, November 10. Southern Ocean, South America – Antarctica region. Airburst. Time: 16:31. Coordinates: (59.8S, 73.6W). e = 5.7. -e = 0.18 or 180,000 kg/TNT. Altitude: 43km. Velocity: N.A.

2025, September 13. Argentina, Lihuel Calel Department, La Pampa Province. Airburst. Time: 22:26:39UT. 19:24LT. Coordinates: (38.1S,64.8W). Altitude: 25.1 km. Energy: e = 16.7e10, -e = 0.48 or 480,000 kg/TNT. Velocity: 17.8 km/s.  

Thirteen dolphins saved in mass stranding

2025, August 4. Canada, Nova Scotia, Bay of Fundy, Canning Aboiteau mud flats. A mass stranding of 13 Atlantic white-sided dolphins that were caught on tidal egress and rescued.

2025, August 5. Scotland, Fiadhairt, Loch Dunvegan, Skye, Highland. Short-Beaked Common Dolphin in a state of slight decomposition.

2025, August 5. UK, Widemouth Bay, Wanson mouth. Dead dolphin.

2025, August 5. Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. Dead dolphins. Three over three days from August 3 to 5. On August 5, a dead dolphin was found at Primorsko. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in the Black Sea there have been more and more cases of dolphins dying. Reports about this come not only from Russia and Ukraine but also from Turkey, Romania, and other countries. Hundreds of dead animals have been found in the Black Sea and along its coasts since the beginning of the year. In some regions, these figures have already exceeded those of the whole of last year.

2025, August 6. New South Wales, Central Coast, Umina Beach, A male dolphin stranded and died.  

2025, August 6. Svalbard. A dead (small) beluga.

2025, August 6. UK, Hunstanton, Snettisham beach. Sowerbys Beaked whale was found dead.

2025, August 6. Egypt, North Coast village. A male Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) located dead, a species common in Egypt’s territorial waters. It measured approximately two meters in length and had decomposed noticeably.  

Atlantic white-sided dolphins stuck in mud in Canning, Nova Scotia (c) Marine Animal Response Society  

ORCA (Australia)

Orca strands in New Zealand

2025, July 14. New Zealand, Surf Club at Mairangi Bay Northshore Auckland. Beached Orca. Managed to self-refloat. The Marine Animal Disturbance Watch remains in effect for the next 14 days.

Killer Whale stranded in Iceland

2025, June 10. Iceland, Reykjavík, Korpúlfsstaðir, Grafarvogur neighbourhood, Gorvík bay. An orca has stranded near the Korpa golf course in Reykjavík. Rescue workers are attempting to refloat the animal.

Update: 12062025, the Orca has been successfully refloated.

Update: 13062025, the Orca restranded and was unfortunately euthanised. 

2025, June 6. USA, Alaska, Kodiak Island, Surfer’s Beach. A sub adult male gray whale, about 30 feet long corpse washed up near the southern end of Kodiak’s road system. Death due to Orca mortality. It's the fourth dead whale reported around the archipelago this year and the seventh found around Alaska. 

18th whale ashore in San Francisco Region this year

2025, June 7. USA, California, San Francisco, Lands End. The cause of death is undetermined. This is the 18th whale that has stranded in the region this year.

2025, June 10. Nigeria, in Andoni LGA, Rivers State, Ikuru town beach. Juvenile Humpback stranded and Ikuru community butchered for meat. Once again calls to not consume meat from cetaceans was ignored. 

Update: 2025, June 10. USA, New Jersey, coast of Brigantine. A Bottlenose Dolphin was euthanised after stranding.  

Airburst above cetacean feeding grounds

2024, June 28.  Sea of Okhotsk. Airburst. Time: 16:05. Coordinates: (55.1, 141). e = 3.8, -e = 0.13 or 130,000 kg/TNT. Altitude 29.2 km. Velocity: 15.3 km/s.

Humpback whales and orcas are returning to the region but are a feeding/breeding ground for the endangered Bowhead Whales struggling to return to sustainable numbers. There are less than 400 individuals in the Sea of Okhotsk. It is a terrible location for an airburst. The Bol'shoy Shantar Island (Ongachan Bay), is S.W. of this event. A marine animal disturbance should be noted for the region. Belugas are also at risk. The area is home to a marine nature sanctuary so hopefully, observations will ascertain any biological damage quickly.

The Bowheads are struggling in the region because in 2017 an airburst on 23rd of June 2017, in the northern part of the sea had a blast force of 520,000 kg/TNT. 

Google Maps

Orca stranding in Argentina in 2019

2019, September 14. South Atlantic. Airburst. (-38.6, -33.5). Time: 12:39. 2052 km from the Argentinian coast of the below event. Altitude 38 km. Velocity: 15.9 km/s. e=10.9, -e=0.33 or equivalent blast force of 330,000 kg/TNT. (See below event).

2019, September 16. Argentina, Mar Chiquita. Seven killer whales stranded, or orcas, beached in La Caleta near Mar del Plata. Six were pulled back to sea, while one died during the operation.

7 Orcas stranded in La Caleta (Buenos Aires / Argentina) - YouTube

Sad ending for a beautiful mammal

2024, June 15-16. New Zealand, Hawke Bay, Mahia. Dead juvenile Orca.

2024, June 13. New Zealand, Lake Ferry Beach, Wairarapa. Juvanile Dolphin. Saved by fisherman.  

Photo Credit: Project Jonah/Facebook 

 Project Jonah is always looking for volunteers to help these majestic animals.

Two marine mammals stranded - Wairarapa Times-Age

UPDATE: Gray Whale die off in the Pacific: 2019 to 2023

It's important to add this event to show how many meteor incidents occur that are not widely catalogued in data systems that basically happen every day. These air blasts are hazardous to whales.

2018, March 7. USA, Washington State, Pacific Ocean. LARGE METEOR. Loud sonic booms. Three National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather stations detected the fall of a meteorite about 25 kilometres off the coast of Washington state. The fall was widely seen and heard around local areas. The estimated size of meteor was 4.4 kg. Meteorites recovered by expedition.

How much is a whale worth?

Without whales human beings are destined to lose much more than you think.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has emphasised the significant value of healthy whale populations in the ocean. Policymakers and Economists have expressed the advantages that whales offer various industries, notably ecotourism, environmental contributions, and carbon absorption. Analysis of these factors reveals that a single large whale's lifetime value is approximately $2 million. Extrapolating this across the estimated global whale population suggests a total worth of about $1 trillion. These findings underscore the critical role of whales and advocate for the cessation of whale hunting. Whales are essential to the marine ecosystem, contributing up to 50% of oxygen production and actively mitigating climate change. Upon their demise, whales facilitate carbon sequestration as their bodies sink to the seabed. It is imperative to restore their ocean habitat and allow populations to rebound to pre-industrial whaling and fishing levels.

Whale strandings in New Zealand for January linked to meteoroid events with an Australian connection.

Looking at the complete picture, New Zealand is in a very active meteoroid stream. This apparently has been the case for some time. 

2024, January 8. New Zealand, Between South and North Island. High Altitude Meteor. Time 15:17. Traveling east to west at 100 km travelling prograde at 57km/s.

2024, January 8. South Australia, Eight Mile Creek, southeast of Mount Gambier, east of Port McDonald. Dozens of dead sea animals, including sharks and octopuses, wobbegong sharks, but also snapper, wrasse, octopuses, Port Jackson sharks, stingrays, salmon and ling. Almost a straight line from New Zealand to Australia from the above meteoroid.

2024, January 9 and 10. New Zealand. Two Gray’s beaked whales were stranded on two separate beaches near South Taranaki on Tuesday and Wednesday. The whales were already dead when located on Waipipi coastline and were between 3.5 and 4m in length. This came between 24 and 48 hours after the above meteor event.

2024, January 21. New Zealand, North Island-East Coast, Hawke's Bay, reef near Māhia, Tairāwhiti beach, Taylor’s Beach. 40 false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins were euthanised. The pod first stranded early in the afternoon but refloated with the high tide at about 3pm. They were then stranded at a remote and inaccessible reef point further south from Taylor’s Beach.

2024, January 21. New Zealand, North Island. Time 9:12pm. The fireball was seen in Auckland, Waikato, Gisborne, Waipawa and Hawke’s Bay, the same day 40 false killer whales were stranded in the area. A loud sonic boom was heard as it flew overhead, travelling from N.W to S.E. It was described as a low travelling large ball of fire.

2024. January 28. New Zealand, Christchurch, Moncks Bay. 7m long Fin whale stranded. Stranded at 9pm and died at 3am following morning.

2024. January 29 - 30. New Zealand, Baylys Beach, East Coast, North Island. 3 Black Dolphins. The first one washed up from a pod offshore of approx. 10 - 12 individuals. The second was 2km further up the beach and was 3m long. The third washed up the next day. Baylys Beach is a small section of Ripiro Beach, which is the longest west coast beach in New Zealand. It’s located in the Kaipara district near Dargaville. PCTE

Killer Whales, the gladiators of the ocean that chase smoke.

 Killer Whales, the gladiators of the ocean that chase smoke. 

After some meteor events such as airbursts, impacts and extreme bolides, I've come across unusual whale strandings and fish like marlin. It was evident there had been a hunt, with injuries that consisted of blunt force trauma and removal of body parts. The events were rather messy. It doesn't fit into meteor shower panic strandings, so it wasn't that. Even concussion-type events are not this messy, they are traumatic but not a butcher house, but there was a link. So I went back to find data that was similar and ask myself questions. Why do killer whales go from feeding on fish, seals and pack hunting to expending such energy, so it seems, to chase down enormous pods of dolphins and porpoises or go to war with marlin and whales they don't usually hunt. Killer whales are opportunists, seeking an easy meal. Most of the time they didn't eat the creatures, just killed them for sport. They arrived on the scene and didn't like what they saw and for fun started killing. They might very well find some easy food there or they kill the creatures already gorging themselves. In any case, killing marlin is incredibly hard to do, but broken spines don't lie. If a pod of dolphins is already injured in some way, they might strand them and see what food presents itself. I've noticed this in many incidences where a typical stranding didn't happen after a meteor event but seemed messy and inconsistent. These events were much-removed location-wise and out of the time frame of what is usually seen. Something just doesn't add up. The animals that did were not common to see together and the only reason I could think of is that killer whales are attracted to the event, they find injured creatures and proceed to clean shop so to speak. Another reason this all adds up is that you don't find mass dolphin and porpoise strandings, they are incredibly rare. And I think this is because they are predated on before making landfall. They are little mouthfuls of food for killer whales and giant sharks. I think this also applies to the larger dolphin species as well. We might see 30 or 500 black dolphins come ashore but how many are inside the gut of another animal. These are larger, so predators might only be able to take fewer individuals before landfall. Large baleen whales sometimes wash up on beaches with wounds showing all the hallmarks of killer whale attack and it could be caused by a preceding incident that sets the orca onto it.  I know this is not scientific in any way shape or form; these are just observations. It's like the killer whales are vultures circling a fire waiting for prey to succumb. 

Interesting Fact: Orcas are more likely to be attacked by a pod of Black Dolphins (Pilot Whales) than the other way around. It's been found that Orcas are incredibly weary of Black Dolphins because they have a mob mentality and use it to their advantage.