A B.C. photographer and her dog found a Giant Pacific octopus washed up on the shore of a Vancouver Island beach.

The Lummi Nation has declared a disaster after removing 70,000 invasive European green crabs from their sea pond in November. According to Seattle-based King News, the Lummi Nation cultivates shellfish and juvenile salmon in their 750-acre sea pond. The European green crab preys on young oysters, clams, and are known to dig down into the sand, uprooting eel grass, which is habitat for juvenile salmon.

Volunteers from the Friends of Bowker Creek Society say uncovering caddisfly larvae in the gravel beds of the stream show the water quality has improved to a level sufficient to sustain salmon and cutthroat trout.

Two distinct species of orcas feed and socialize in the waters of Puget Sound: fish-eating endangered southern resident killer whales and transient, or Bigg’s, killer whales, which feed on marine mammals and are more common. They seldom mix.

The most common pod of southern resident killer whales who migrate to the Salish Sea during the summer have not been seen for than 100 days, marking a highly unusual absence from their historic summer hunting ground, according to researchers.

A rare deep-sea fish was discovered on Vancouver Island this month. A pair of friends, Natalie Mueller and Andie Lafrentz, were walking along Whiffin Spit in Sooke on Sept. 19 when they spotted what they first thought was a “large piece of scrap metal.”

It was a king-of-the-salmon (Trachipterus altivelis), a deep-sea-dwelling species of ribbonfish. Its common name comes from the legends of the Makah people west of Strait of Juan de Fuca, which believe this “king” leads the salmon to their spawning grounds each year.

Residents near the University of Victoria are cautioned to be vigilant as authorities are responding to sightings of a bear in the area.

“In the last 36 hours, we’ve received four bear sightings in Saanich,” said Sgt. Damian Kowalewich with Saanich Police. "A lot of our residents are obviously alarmed by this and it’s a higher number of sightings than usual.”

I have lived along Epsom Drive, between Cedar Hill Golf course and Cedar Hill Road for 22 years. I have seen a common wall lizard once, in late spring of 2020 at our address.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said photographer Marissa Baecker, who was visiting White Rock from Kelowna on Christmas Day. “It wasn’t just a feeding, it was a feast.”

Lesser Goldfinch birds were seen munching on local greenery

This is one of just a small number of Blue Jay sightings recorded on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

A yellow-browed warbler spotted in Panama Flats on Friday drew dozens of birding enthusiasts to Vancouver Island on Saturday

Gavin Hanke reaches a gloved hand into the formaldehyde tank at the Royal British Columbia Museum very, very carefully. What emerges is a B.C. first — a poisonous spotted porcupine fish.

Asian giant hornets are known to feed on honeybees and other large insects and are capable of destroying a beehive in a short time, according to the province.

In 2016, there was a documented Brown Pelican sighting in Port Renfrew, BC, and in 2018-2019 there were five others in Victoria, BC.

The bird flew in on the mudflats at high tide and joined a small flock of Western Sandpipers. This is the second record for the province of BC.

The Capital Regional District recently issued an alert sheet for Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum).