Monika Wieland Shields
@orcawatcher
Killer whale researcher, author, and photographer 🐳 Hockey fan, bird-watcher, part-time crusader 🌟 San Juan Island, WA 🌅
The first frame of a video I took with my phone 😱 These Pacific white-sided dolphins yesterday wanted to play! With each other, with orcas, with humpbacks, with us…
Summer evening vibes on San Juan Island, complete with unexpected orcas showing up for sunset 😍🌅
Somehow we have never watched fireworks from our boat before. We’re usually further away, so it was impressive to see and hear them up close!
A photo from one last evening of birding in interior B.C. before heading home today! 40 species in 2.5 hours including a lifer dusky grouse 🧡 It’s been an incredibly memorable trip; I’ll share more photos in the weeks ahead! #roadtrip #beautifulbritishcolumbia #birdwatching
A black bear cub in northern BC this morning 🧸 #britishcolumbia #babyanimals
Wildflowers of the Yukon Territory 🌸🌼 #canada #subarctic #largerthanlife
It doesn’t matter if you’re coastal or inland, summer scenics in the sub-Arctic region are always spectacular #yukon
Same mountains, different vibes - all taken from the same general location over the course of the week #alaska
“Alaska isn’t about who you were when you headed this way. It’s about who you become.” – Kristin Hannah
Exit Glacier, viewed from where the glacier extended to in 2005 #alaska #climatechange
Success in the Gulf of Alaska today 😎 #killerwhales #orcas #whalesky
A few shots from the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward today: horned puffin, painted anemone, and coho salmon
A bustling black-legged kittiwake nesting colony at Cape Resurrection, Alaska
It's a precarious life for a newborn mountain goat on the cliffs above Resurrection Bay! ⛰️🐐 #alaska
Painting by natural light at 10 PM - a night owl of a girl could get used to this! 🦉🎨 #Alaska #LandOfTheMidnightSun #WatercolorPainting
I’ve been experiencing photo paralysis: such amazing scenery that I haven’t been able to choose which pictures to share, leading me to not share any 😅 I plan to change that starting today! At least one picture every day for the rest of the trip 🏔️ #alaska
Off on our next adventure! ⛴️🌅 #AMHS #AlaskaMarineHighway #alaskaorbust
Seersucker kelp in the sunshine at American Camp on San Juan Island this morning. We saw it while tidepooling and enjoying one of the lowest daytime low tides of 2026! #salishsea
So much fun drawing gray whales this evening in our @orcabehaviorinstitute.org class with @hysazu.bsky.social ! #whalesky
It was so lovely we had to go back for another evening walk in the oak groves at English Camp ☀️
Absolutely gorgeous light for an evening walk at Mt. Young yesterday, and the perfect temperature out, too!
A few more of my favorite flowers! 🌹🌸 I love this time of year.
Signs of spring at English Camp this week 🌸 #sanjuanislands #wildflowers
Evening bird walk at False Bay #sanjuanislands #salishsea #blackandwhite
This weekend truly had all four seasons in Puget Sound! There were some beautiful sights to be had in between the squalls, like this Washington State Ferry in front of the Olympic Mountains sporting a fresh coat of snow. #salishsea
A beautiful sky framed by trees on my walk yesterday evening on San Juan Island