Abi Hayward

Ottawa

Assistant Editor at Canadian Geographic

Associate editor at @CanGeo @CanGeo_Travel. Journalist. Cyclist. I love maps and glass sponges. She/her. A bi. Pitch me [email protected]

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Articles

Knowing nature for what it is with Connel Bradwell

1 month ago | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward

Wildlife filmmaker and conservationist Connel Bradwell was researching orcas when he saw something… he did not expect: two male orca engaging in courtship behaviour. No: they weren’t roommates. As a queer biologist, Bradwell started to ask questions: “How come I didn’t know that much about homosexuality and queerness in the natural world? Why haven’t we been talking about this?
Beavers and the art of ecological resilience

1 month ago | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward |Katie Doreen

Beavers and the art of ecological resilience How beaver engineering results in biodiverse and climate-resilient landscapes The largest beaver dam on record was 775 metres long, located in Wood Buffalo National Park, Alta. (Photo: Derek Otway/Unsplash) Expand Image It starts with the sound of running water. There’s something in a beaver’s rodent brain that draws it to the sound, compelling it to build. To dam. To slow the flow.
Our Country: Tyler Johnston

Mar 26, 2025 | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward

Our Country: Tyler Johnston The Letterkenny star relaxes and recharges at mom’s house on Hatzic Lake, B.C. Mar 26, 2025 324 words 2 minutes (Illustration: Chelsea Peters) Expand Image My mom has a house out on Hatzic Lake in Mission, B.C., and it is just magical. It is a place I didn’t really know about growing up, even though I grew up about an hour and a bit away. My mom has lived there for maybe six years now.
Behind the scenes of our 2024 Canadian Photos of the Year competition: Can Geo’s staff picks

Jan 31, 2025 | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward

When it comes to judging a photo competition with thousands of entries, it’s most definitely a team effort. To bring you all behind the curtain, there are several rounds of prejudging that happen before the finalists make it to the final judging panel of Canadian Geographic’s photo competitions. All photos are judged blind — and each is given careful consideration by the Can Geo team, taking into account composition, technical execution, storytelling and more.
Announcing the winners of the 2024 Canadian Photos of the Year competition

Jan 29, 2025 | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward

Lightning strikes a canola field from a bruised sky. An octopus mother tenderly guards her eggs. Mountain bikes tumble through the summer air.
A life well lived: Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison

Oct 11, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward

Not many people have lived a life like the one biologist Karsten Heuer and filmmaker Leanne Allison have lived. From hiking 3,400 kilometres from Yellowstone National Park to Watson Lake, Yukon, to shadowing the porcupine caribou herd on their annual migration from Yukon to Alaska across the Arctic tundra, Heuer and Allison have undertaken incredible journeys to advocate for landscape-level conservation.
Wildlife Wednesday: loss of bats to killer fungus linked to death of human infants

Sep 18, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward |Michela Rosano |Thomas Lundy

A new study led by University of Chicago researcher Eyal Frank has found that where bat numbers drop, infant mortality in humans rises.
Searching for stars and spectres in Utah and Nevada

Aug 30, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward |Ben Nguyen

The beams from our headlamps cast a soft red light as our footsteps crunch through the scrubby desert soil. Our eyes have been adjusting to the darkness for the past half hour, and any bright light would send us straight back to square one. Above our heads, the universe. More stars than I’ve ever seen before sprawl across the indigo darkness. Constellations cluster in the clouds of the Milky Way, which arcs shimmering through the sky like a river.
Our Country: Sanoa Olin on surfing the waves of Tofino, B.C.

Jul 24, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward

Tofino is really special and important to me because it’s where I grew up and where my family and all my closest friends live. I love it there because it has so much nature — the most beautiful old growth forests and a rugged coastline. You’ll get incredible sunrises and sunsets over the mountains and over the ocean. It’s where I learned how to surf and where all my best memories are. Tofino makes me feel connected to the world around me. I get to go a little slower and take in every second.
Bees with backpacks

Jun 26, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Abi Hayward |David Wysotski

While we do know bumblebees need flowers, we don’t know much about where they nest, how far they fly to disperse or where exactly the queens overwinter. We also don’t know much about how pesticides affect bees’ movement. This lack of information, says Liczner, makes it tricky to provide specific conservation recommendations. Enter the backpacks.