During a B.C. heat wave, there was an unusual increase in baby gulls falling or jumping from rooftops, leading to numerous rescues by a local wildlife organization.

Jackie Hildering was astonished by a recent photo depicting an enormous Mola mola submitted to the Marine Education Resource Society citizen science project, which is collecting data on two different species of sunfish along the Pacific Coast.

Western red cedars in South Langley, BC are dying, with browning starting at the tops during summer and progressing downward until the trees are completely dead.

Joe Gaydos found a bluefin tuna washed up on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington state. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the fish usually roam the more temperate waters of the Pacific Ocean.

“We spent the weekend outdoors camping on the peninsula and notices shoreline grasses has dried and shriveled.”

As engineers and government officials try to locate the source of a sewage leak into the Capilano River, the Squamish Nation and a group of volunteers who monitor waterways on the North Shore say they are worried about the effect on young salmon in the river.

Eight skunks found dead last month in Vancouver and Richmond tested positive for avian flu.

New fish have been spotted in a recently revitalized section of Craigflower Creek in View Royal, B.C., thanks to a development site with an environmental focus.

Goldfish have a special ability to live under extreme conditions, making them prolific invaders of natural habitats. They are tolerant to low oxygen conditions and can survive water temperatures well below freezing, said the Invasive Species Council of B.C. on their website.

In 2022, a record number of Bigg’s killer whales (orcas) and humpback whales were spotted in the waters surrounding Victoria as well as south along Washington’s border.

One UBC scientist says his early estimation that a billion creatures died from the 2021 heat dome was too low. Today, life is returning to areas scorched by last year’s unprecedented heat wave. The die off was patchy and the plants and animals in the intertidal zone that survived the heat wave “are the parents to the next generation,” Harley said.

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

This happened about 250 m from the shore of the Fraser River in a creek at Colony Farms.

Since 7 a.m. on Monday, crews in Vancouver responded to reports of flooding in 46 locations. Average annual cost of property damage or losses due to severe weather has increased from about $400 million before 2009 to about $2 billion annually in the last few years.

A tornado watch was issued around 5:30 p.m. and rescinded less than an hour later, but the storm caused considerable damage on the University of British Columbia campus. The school is located on a peninsula not far from the airport.

The rhododendron in my garden is now starting to bloom in late October. I researched this and it seems that it's not unheard of and may be related to higher temperatures in the daytime and colder temperatures at night.

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.

It happened Thursday night and into Friday morning, when the Crown corporation reduced the spill release from the Daisy Lake Reservoir into the river, stranding fish who had moved closer to the banks.

In 2009, the numbers dropped down to just 500 pairs of Chinook returning. Yet, as of Tuesday, more than 8,000 Chinook had returned to their Cowichan River spawning grounds. The improvement is the result of years of conservation efforts by Cowichan Tribes, who have worked to restore the river to its course before logging operations changed the river.