[1] Bianki's father was Valentin Bianchi (1857–1920), an ornithologist and curator at the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

After the Soviets came to power, Bianki worked in Biysk in the Department of Education at a regional museum where he served as director.

In 1923, Bianki began to publish a natural calendar in the Leningrad magazine Sparrow (later New Robinson).

At the end of 1925, Bianki was arrested again on suspicion of subversive activity and sentenced to three years of exile in Uralsk.

In March 1935, he was arrested as an "active member of the armed uprising against Soviet rule" and taken to the Aktobe region, but was released after intercession by Maxim Gorky's ex-wife, Yekaterina Peshkova.

Because of poor health he was not drafted to serve in the army for World War II, but was evacuated to the Urals.