It's hard to recap a year that has been so full of amazing wildlife highlights and meeting great people. So, instead of of the hundreds of great stories, we've done our best to show you, putting together a slide show of highlights from 2017.
Thank you to everyone who traveled with us this year - we're looking forward to 2018!
(You can click through at your own pace, or wait a moment for the next image. Hover over the photo to read a description of the photo)
The year started with Lee guiding in Baja, and the marine wildlife certainly didn't disappoint... - Baja California
These sweet little Guadalupe fur seals are always a treat to see and photograph... - Baja California
The opportunity to photograph lightening over water is rarely presented to us and, during a particularly spectacular electrical storm, Lee managed to get this opportunity, making this one of our favourite photos from 2017...- Baja California
We love working with this guy, and any opportunity to guide with him is always a highlight of our year... - Baja California
Meanwhile, Lindsay was out enjoying the spectacle of Spring in the Gulf Islands and around southern Vancouver Island, where Bull Steller Sea Lions prepare for their pending battles over rookeries...much to the entertainment of the onlooking crowds of Black Oystercatchers - Gulf Islands National Park Reserve
As early as spring, Killer Whales can be seen around the waters of Southern Vancouver Island, and the first sighting of the year is always special - Gulf Islands National Park Reserve
Late spring we headed to the Okanagan Valley. It's one of the best places for birding in Canada. This Pygmy Nuthatch was certainly one of the cutest birds we photographed this year.... - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
Other fantastic bird highlights from our travels in the Okanagan included the colourful, and melodious Lazuli Buntings, Lewis' Woodpeckers, and Western Meadowlarks - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
Then there were all the lake and pond birds, including American Avocet, Wilson's Phalaropes, Long-billed Curlew, three species of blackbirds, and various species of ducks - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and many more delicious wine varieties were sampled this spring... We do all the difficult research for you - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
Marmot, Coyote, Beaver, Desert Hare, Bighorn Sheep, and Black Bear were all on our mammal list... Seeing a Black Bear in Wine country was something else! - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
The Okanagan is an important area for fruit-growing in BC - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
Orchards and Vineyards are also good places for wildlife, providing animals with shelter, food ...and places to sit... - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
Seeing all of the orchards in bloom was a big highlight for both of us... - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
Wonderful displays of spring wildflowers in full bloom - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan Valley
...and lots of freshly emerged butterflies were on the wing too - Wildlife and Wine of the Okanagan.
We then headed to the Canadian Rockies where we saw one of our top highlights of the 2017, this cinnamon black bear mum with her two cubs - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
A famaily portrait of the beautiful dark cinnamon black bear mum and her two cubs (black and cinnamon!) - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
Even though it was spring, we still had a fair amount of snow, especially at elevation. This provided some fun opportunities to play around with some high-key photos - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
Another one of our favourite high key subjects - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
There were many mountain and migrating birds that were highlights of the Canadian Rockies, such as Boreal Chickadee, Mountain Chickadee, Gray-crowned Rosy Finch, and both Western and Mountain Bluebird - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
Spring time is one of the busy times for beaver and, with the long daylight hours, we enjoyed some great close encounters with these comically industrious rodents... - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
Baby bison are so sweet... Seeing these new born calves enduring the heavy snow was certainly another great highlight for us - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
In stark contrast to the snow covered mountains, some of the sheltered valleys in the Rockies were showing impressive displays of early spring blooms ... - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
The haunting calls of Loons over mountain lakes... always a classic moment - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
Time spent photographing Columbian Ground squirrels is always popular with us and our guests. It's both harder, and more fun, than it looks... - Spring the Southern Ranges: Canadian Rockies
In July Lindsay did some guiding in SE Alaska, and the humpback whales there certainly put on a show... - SE Alaska
... Seeing the large groups of humpback Whales engage in Bubble-net Feeding is both crazy, and awe-inspiring. It is tough to describe in words alone... - SE Alaska
... and if seeing this isn't incredible enough, we could hear the whales calls through the hull of the boat... unreal - SE Alaska
Lindsay loves a photo that tells a story, and I'm sure you can "read the story" in this photo, taken while still manouvering a zodiac for guests (yes she's very proud of that) - SE Alaska
The salmon runs are earlier in SE Alaska (July/August), which is why large numbers of bears are seen at the creeks too! - SE Alaska
An evening whale watch out of southern Vancouver Island gave us a great show of Transient Killer Whales in August - Ultimate Killer Whale
The nearby forest fires gave the sunset a dramatic haze of red... - Ultimate Killer Whale
We also visited the northern part of Vancouver Island to help out with guiding some sea otter tours in the late part of summer. We might be biased, but Otters are always a highlight for us... - Ultimate Killer Whale
In early fall Lindsay spent some time on the waters of Great Bear Rainforest, where the food was plentiful for marine mammals as well as the bears. - Great Bear Rainforest
Early in the season, when the salmon haven't starting their run into the rivers, it's common to see black bears feeding on invertebrates in the intertidal zone... This experience is always cooler, when that black bear happens to be a spirit bear! - Great Bear Rainforest
Though Grizzly Bears and Spirit Bears are a big draw for guests to the Great Bear Rainforest, we still love our encounters with curious black bears... - Great Bear Rainforest
Finally, we ended our season on a huge high, guiding together in Gitga'at Territory for photographic tours focusing on Spirit Bears... It was an amazing season for spirit bears... Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
We saw 6 different individuals this year, with this patient elder female known as Ma'a (Grandmother in the Gitga'at language) stealing the show... - Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
Sometimes we only had a brief encounter with individuals, like this younger female known as Strawberry... - Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
... Other individuals were more energentic, like this female known as Warrior... - Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
Here's Warrior again (she was a big highlight!) - Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
And of course, we should mention one of the most well known spirit bears, the dominant male known as Boss... - Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
The Black Bears were also a huge highlight, and the interactions between all of the bears on the rivers was wild and exciting this year... Sometimes it was so active, we as bear guides didn't get a chance to snap a photo! - Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
The people we met this fall were incredible, and a huge highlight for our guiding season... - Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
Side note: we love guiding together... This is a rare photo of the two of us, skillfully snapped by Joanna whilst we were contemplating the movements of a not too distant spirit bear... - Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest
In conclusion... We love what we do, we love where we go, and we love the people we get to guide... Thank you to all the wildlife, wild spaces and people who made 2017 so special!
