Some fantastic dried wild mushrooms from my Thai friend, Nong. All foraged from Vancouver Island. In the mix are pine, morel, lobster & chanterelles 🙂

#WildMushrooms #DehydratedFood #DriedMushrooms #morel #PineMushrooms #LobsterMushrooms #chanterelles #fungi #food #Gourmet #mushrooms #VancouverIsland #ForagedFood

I have seen Western Tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana) only a few times. They are camera shy and always moving. I managed to capture this one last week. The photo is cropped.

#photography #birds #wildlife #VancouverIslandWildlife #BritishColumbia #VancouverIsland

There’s an 11-minute flight between #YYJ and #YVR frequently used to bypass the ferry between #VancouverIsland and the #BC mainland. I’d love to see electric aircraft used for such short hops. It would help build public confidence in the technology, while reducing fuel use, noise, and cost.

#Vancouver #Victoria

#Amaryllis is almost fully bloomed 😍

#Spring #perennials #Saanich #VictoriaBC #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #flowers #botanical #plants #garden #Bloomscrolling #florespondence #PollinatorGardens #FlowersIdentification #WhatsInMyGarden #WhatsBlooming #GardenVideos

Yellow warbler wants to know what you're up to.

#photography #birds #wildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife

Drove across the island to Ucluelet and Tofino yesterday... the drive is beautiful and the coast is stunning. It's a 2.5 hour drive, but I'd totally do it again to spend a whole day at Long Beach.

#VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #PacificNorthwest #Beach

#Tomatoes #transplanting.
Ensure that you pile up the soil at base of your plants. Tomato plants are happier, when you mound up the soil & transplant them deep into pots(if you're not putting them into ground). Banana peel & fish head parts are at bottom of every tomato planter to ensure they are constantly fed from the bottom up 👩‍🌾
I'll update in 1-2 weeks on how I use alfalfa feed pellets when my tomato plants start to produce their first fruit babies.

#FoodSecurity #FoodEquity #FoodSystems #GrowFood #AnarchoSocialist #GrowVegetables #GrowTomatoes #GrowItEatIt #AntiCapitalist #BeTheChange #SeedsOfTheRevolution #GardeningIsRevolutionary #ResistanceGardeners #GrowFromSeed #DisabledGardeners #FoodGardening #FoodPlants #Saanich #VictoriaBC #VancouverIsland #PNW #Zone8 #YYJ #Cascadia #PacificNorthwest #VanIsle

It's a wonderful time of year to visit #WellandCommunityOrchard 🌸💚🌸
Hundreds of trees are blossoming, right now. Lots of wildflowers & other pollinator flowers are out. Lots of berry plants are developing new fruits.

lifecyclesproject.ca/our-proje…

#WellandCommunityOrchard #nonprofit #CommunityOrchard #OrchardPark #Stewardship #FoodSecurity #FoodSystems #ViewRoyal #YYJ #Saanich #VictoriaBC #VancouverIsland #PhotoDocumentation #GrowFruit #FruitTrees #FoodEquity #CultivatingCommunities #nature #AppleTrees #HeirloomApples #LifecyclesProjectSociety #photography #blossoms

A cute baby seal to clean your timeline. You're welcome! 😉

#photography #photographie #wildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife #Canada

I have my cormorants in a row. Everything is under control. Or is it?

#photography #wildlife #nature #birds #VancouverIslandWildlife #BritishColumbia #VancouverIsland

Absolutely gorgeous day here on the island. And it's finally clear enough to see the Olympic mountains!

#VancouverIsland #Victoria #BritishColumbia #Canada

Brown #centipede friend by our composting area. These are fab creatures to have around exterior of home/gardens 💚👩‍🌾🙂👍

Slugs, worms, spiders & flies make up the bulk of their diet. Their leg count will top out at 15 pairs when fully grown.😀
They don’t eat plants, but they'll eat things that eat your plants! Centipedes are “Gardener’s Friend.”

#anthropods #nature #wildlife #Beneficial #PestEater #GardenersFriend #GardenerHelpers #Saanich #Wsanec #VictoriaBC #nature #CreatureIdentification #WhatsInMyGarden #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW

It's the weekend, take it easy! ☺️
C'est le week-end, prenez ça cool ! 🏖️

#photography #photographie #SeaLions #wildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife

''Mine! Mine! Mine!''

I took this photo during the recent herring spawn on Vancouver Island. One gull just caught a herring and, of course, the other gull tried to steal it. The sea was milky turquoise due to an active herring spawn at the time.

#photography #wildlife #birds #nature #VancouverIslandWildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia

Updating my website is part of my regular maintenance. This week I added new tours for 2028 and created new pages in my portfolio. One for Grizzly Bears: catherinebabault.com/grizzly-b…
and the other for Flora on Vancouver Island: catherinebabault.com/flora-on-…

#photography #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #VancouverIslandWildlife

I love this time of year. When many trees/plants emerge from their Winter dormancy 😍
More Japanese cherry tree blossoms.

#CherryBlossoms #JapaneseCherryTree #Trees #Spring #Bloomscrolling #florespondence #flowers #blossoms #March #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #nature

Adult and juvenile Trumpeter swans in a marsh on Vancouver Island. They winter in our region.

#photography #birds #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #VancouverIslandWildlife

#SilentSunday

#photography #LandscapePhotography #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #PNW

Frost on the bark of an arbutus, also known as madrone, for #ThickTrunkTuesday

#photography #nature #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife #Canada

If you'd like to capture the herring spawn on Vancouver Island, I offer daily photo tours in March. We photograph this amazing event from the shore, not from a boat so you don't need to worry about seasickness or the tour being cancelled because of a rough sea.

Max 3 guests per tour to limit our impact on wildlife. Learn more on my website: catherinebabault.com/workshops

#HerringSpawn #photography #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife

A juvenile bald eagle ready to enjoy the herring spawn on the coast of Vancouver Island. Based on the colour of its feathers and its dark bill, I think that it is in its second year. But feel free to correct me. 😀

#photography #birds #wildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada

Gulls hoping that sea lions are messy eaters during the herring spawn last year.

Only a few weeks before the feeding frenzy on the coast of Vancouver Island.

#photography #wildlife #HerringSpawn #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife #Canada

Large herring spawn last year happening during a private photo tour. Yes, it is what you think it is. Crazy, uh?
My guest had the biggest smile on his face. He couldn't believe how much wildlife was there: sea lions and bald eagles eating as many herrings as they could, otters, mink, ducks... He returned home with thousands of photos.
This will happen again this year, in a few weeks. I can't wait!

#HerringSpawn #photography #PhotoTour #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada

For the past few days we have been waking up to a frosty landscape on Vancouver Island. During the day thick fog blankets valleys and the sea. Surreal landscape for photography.

I took this photo of a mountain range on the Island a few years ago but it is representative of the current situation.

#MountainMonday #photography #photographie #winter #landscape #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada

Look at the size difference between a Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala) and a Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus).

#birds #oiseaux #photography #photographie #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife

Juvenile black oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, recognizable with its dark eyes, dull-orange eye ring and dark tip of bill.

Un jeune huîtrier de Bachman identifiable à ses yeux foncés, le contour orange pale de ses yeux et le bout noir de son bec.

#photography #birds #wildlife #photographie #oiseaux #VancouverIsland #SalishSea #BritishColumbia #Canada

#FootpathFriday
Life is more memorable, when you take a few wilderness footpaths, along the way.

#forest #hiking #trail #nature #adventures #woodlands #BWphoto #monochrome #footpath #Pacheedaht #backwoods #wilderness #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #boardwalk

Ending the year with a bear photo because bears are cool. May 2026 be your best year!

Je termine l'année avec une photo d'ours car les ours sont cools. Que 2026 soit votre meilleure année !

#wildlife #bears #photography #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #VancouverIslandWildlife

One of the World’s last ancient temperate rainforests is being clearcut.

Journalist David Mounsey reports, “Most of these 500–1,000-year-old-plus trees they are cutting down will be ground into pulp for Asian corporations or made into pellets to be burned in so-called ‘renewable’ energy power stations in the UK.”

#Rainforest
#Canada
#VancouverIsland

organicconsumers.org/oca-blog/

#Abandoned #house on the hill.

#MonochromeMonday #BWphoto #monochrome #UrbanEx #Saanich #VictoriaBC #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #WorldInMyEyes #DisabledPhotographers #photography

My #calendula has produced a new #FlowerBud - 6 days before Christmas 😊

#Bloomscrolling #Autumn #flowers #VictoriaBC #VancouverIsland #PNW #ToughPlants #botanical #florespondence #plants #FallFlowers #YYJ #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #HardyPlants #RainyDay #Saanich #VictoriaBC #gardening

A small world at our feet.

#FungiFriday #nature #photography #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #VancouverIslandWildlife

Late lunch.
Baked #WildCoho #salmon with #CaulifowerRice with #quinoa added. Not shown, homemade garlic bread. The wild salmon is from our Indigenous friends in Komoks ❤️ The dill & cauliflower used were harvested from our backyard garden. The lemon used is from big Auntie's greenhouse.

#DiabeticFriendly & heart healthy meal for me & Mom.
I'm making my brother bacon wrapped chicken drumsticks in a bit. He requested it this week 😊

#Fish #BoycottFarmedSalmon #Seafood #food #cooking #homecooked #entree #FeedingMyFamily #CoastalLiving #LocalIngredients #LowCarbonFoodFootprints #WildSalmon #VancouverIsland

Someone #lost their #gloves at the lake.

#Autumn #SilentSunday #Nanaimo #VancouverIsland #NorthCowichan #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW

Sea otter on the West coast of Vancouver Island.

Now available in print: catherinebabault.com/fine-art-…

#FediGiftShop #photography #wildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife #GiftIdeas

On a recent photo tour, we had a surprise visit from a sea otter that decided to get its dinner in front of our cameras in a sheltered cove. It grabbed several crabs and clams and used tools to open the clams. We could hear it crush the shells with its teeth.

I plan to go back there as soon as I can.

#wildlife #photography #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #VancouverIslandWildlife

Belted kingfishers are notoriously difficult to photograph. We were lucky enough to witness three of them chasing each other in circles. They were very vocal during their acrobatics.
I interpreted that behaviour as two young kingfishers harassing their parent for food. They were at that stage when they have fledged and are learning to forage for themselves.

#birds #wildlife #photography #nature #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #VancouverIslandWildlife

This young Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) seemed very proud of its find. It hoped around us and looked at us with the rusty leaf in its beak as if it were saying: ''Look what I've found!''

#birds #nature #photography #VancouverIslandWildlife #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada

Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis oreganus) listening to sounds coming from insects hiding in the forest floor.

Photo taken during a private photo tour this summer.

#birds #BirdsOfMastodon #nature #wildlife #photography #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #Canada #VancouverIslandWildlife

This little bear was nervous about the presence of a mature bear so it stayed close to its mother.

This is a prime spot for bears to catch salmon and it comes down to hierarchy. Sometimes it involves growling and chasing, nothing more serious than that.

Photo taken a few weeks ago.

#bears #wildlife #photography #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #VancouverIslandWildlife #Canada