Orca chases stingray at Marsden Cove Marina near Whangārei

Orca foraging in Marsden Cove Marina attract a crowd of spectators. Photo / Dr Ingrid Visser

For the first time in eight years, a pod of orca whales were spotted in the shallows of Marsden Cove Marina in pursuit of a feast of stingray.

In the weekend's "foul weather", whale researcher and scientist Dr Ingrid Visser says "we got very lucky to catch a blow off in the distance".

At 3pm on Sunday, a tug-boat reported seeing the pod make its way into the narrow channel.

The tug-boat is a part of Visser's "network of spotters".

The pod of nine spent 30 minutes hunting stingray in the marina in company of the Marsden community that turned up to catch a rare glimpse of the wildlife.

Four more orca kept their distance, only coming in as close as the harbour.

Marsden Cove resident of 15 years, Rob van Gelder, captured the foraging of the stingray from a neighbour's pontoon in the marina, alongside his wife and two daughters.

The stingrays' proximity to the pontoon brought the orca unbelievably close.

Van Gelder says he spotted pods of orca at Marsden Cove once or twice a year.

He also hasn't seen a pod of this size in the marina for about 10 years.

Van Gelder is one of Vissner's spotters keeping an eye out for the orca whales and "resident Leopard Seal, Owha".

Orca foraging in Marsden Cove Marina attract a crowd of spectators. Photo / Dr Ingrid Visser

Visser, the founder of the Orca Research Trust's, says Sunday's visit was "magic".

"The community got the chance to see wildlife in the raw and I'm so happy with how respectful of the animals everyone was."

Pods of orca have been spotted all around the country in the past week, including Coromandel and Kaikoura shores.

Winter is a usual time to spot these orca in Northland waters.

"We might not see them for a year and it doesn't mean they're not there, just not recorded," Visser said.

She says it was good to keep an eye on them because of the high risk of swimming so close to shore.

Orca foraging in such shallow waters is immensely dangerous and risks the whales coming to be stranded.

"No other population of orca around the world that we know of come into shallow harbours and hunt as these guys do," Vissner said.

Their high-risk foraging behaviour accounts for an average of one orca stranding on New Zealand shores every year, in comparison to one every 14 years in Australia, despite their more extensive coastline.

Pickle, one of the orca identified on Sunday, showcased the dangers of shallow hunting when she came really far inshore and her belly rested on a sandbank.

Visser identified three of the nine orca on Sunday afternoon.

Orca hunting stingray at Marsden Cove Marina

Posted by Rob van Gelder on Saturday, 20 June 2020

Funky Monkey, Pickle, and their presumed younger sibling Pumpkin made an appearance.

Pickle can be easily recognised by her missing dorsal fin which Vissner notes had been missing as early as a week old when she was first recorded in September of 2010.

Missing dorsal fins are frequently caused by entanglement from fishing.

Visser has been tracking orcas since the 1990s.

Many of those she traces now she's been "following since they were babies".

The Orca Research Trust currently identify and trace more than 60 of the 200 coastal orca around New Zealand on their trust site orcaresearch.org.

The trust's 2020 ID guide exhibits the easily identifible characteristics of orca in New Zealand waters that can be matched with your own photos.

To help plot Orca's speed, movement and direction of travel, Visser encourages you to call 0800 SEE ORCA (0800 733 6722).