Although we live in a city, we are constantly surprised at how much wildlife we have around us. From our apartment window we can see “our” blue heron which nests in an arbutus tree - the closest thing to a eucalypt in Canada. Being close to the water means we see a range of water birds - oyster catchers, golden eye and mallard ducks, hooded merganser. We even have a dozen brown pelicans wintering over on an island just in front of us - they are usually found further south in Oregon and northern California. There are a number of smaller birds, that frequent the neighbourhood, even some hummingbirds that often visit a feeder up here on the 7th floor. But, small birds tend to be heard, not seen with so many birds of prey around - these include bald eagles, Cooper’s hawks, Horned owls and the odd osprey.
Marine life is equally diverse: there are seals and otters that call our waterfront home, so there must be some good dining close by. Although we haven’t seen an orca right in the harbour, we do see them when out on our bikes to the east or west of the city centre. [Cadboro Bay and Sooke]. We know there is a variety of marine life in the waters - we see the heron catching crabs, the gulls catching salmon and but how about a seagull eating octopus??
http://www.birdfellow.com/journal/2012/04/27/who’s_up_for_lunch_a_gull_eating_octopus_in_victoria_bc
Some people have seen mink around the harbour, but we have yet to see one. There are some huge, noisy and smelly sea lions out at Race Rocks Lighthouse which we can see 15 kms awayThe biggest surprise was in early November when a stag with a full set of antlers was seen swimming across the harbour at 7 am by neighbours in our building
We see a lot of deer in and around the city - indeed, they have reached pest proportions - a cull is called for, but is unlikely to happen in the near future. Deer damage gardens relentlessly in some areas , even right downtown. Farmers in the Saanich Peninsula and Cowichan Valley have to install deer fencing if they want to protect their crops.
There are cougars and black bears also on the Island. Occasionally, there are black bear sightings in some suburban areas, but cougars have been reported in inner suburbs. Just the other week, kids at a school within a kilometer of the Legislature were not allowed outside at recess or lunch because a cougar had been sighted in the neighbourhood. one cougar even made it into the iconic Empress Hotel http://www.doctorsreview.com/features/tea-at-the-empress/
We can’t guarantee sightings of all wildlife on your visit to the BC capital, but we would do our best.
Another aspect of the natural environment, apart from the wonderful scenery is the proximity to a number of fault lines in the earth’s crust that run off the coast. On October 27, there was a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of the Haida Gwaii [formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands]. Remarkably, there was very little damage. We were at the Victoria Symphony when it happened - the earthquake was no competition for Beethoven’s 5th! http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/recent_eq/2012/20121028.0304/index-eng.php
In a related vein, there is a lot of debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan washing up on our shores - even a Harley Davidson managed to make it across the Pacific http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/04/29/bc-tsunami-debris-harley.html