GyrKite Birding Tours

08/14/2024

Species Spotlight: The Yellow Warbler

The Yellow Warbler (YEWA) is well known by birders across Ontario, being one of most widespread and abundant breeding songbirds, it’s range extends from Point Pelee all the way up to Hudson Bay! In fact, Yellow Warblers have the broadest distribution of any Warbler in the genus Setophaga (which contains most of our Warbler species), and can be found in every state and province of the US and Canada. Their preferred nesting habitat is along wetland edges (especially where willows are found) and early successional forest, where they construct cup nests right around eye level.

Despite being such a colourful and easy to observe species, Yellow Warblers are often overlooked because they are so abundant, passed over in favour of more uncommon warblers.

Yellow Warbler is similar in appearance to female/immature Wilson’s and Hooded Warblers, but note the yellow on the flight feathers and the yellow tail. YEWA is also brighter yellow than the other warblers with yellow plumage.

Here in Ontario YEWA is one of the earliest migrant warblers to leave the province, with most departing between the 2nd week of august and 1st week of September. In regions further away from the southern Great Lakes, you’re unlikely to even encounter a YEWA after August. In fact even now they could be on the move! Be sure to check out the range animation map in the comments, it’s one of the coolest in North America!

07/26/2024

We heard you, birders!
Earlier this month, we asked for your help in identifying which bird groups you struggle with, and you responded! We're thrilled to announce our first identification-focused video, a gentle dive into the the basics of gull ID and specifically, how to identify Herring Gulls!

In this video, we'll share tips, tricks, and advice to make Herring Gull identification a breeze, including features to look out for when separating Lesser Black-backed Gull. Say goodbye to intimidating gull masses, because with Herring Gull ID down, you can start to more easily pick out different species from the madness!

So, grab your binoculars and get ready to take your birding to the next level! Watch our video through this link:
https://youtu.be/q8-flzl4oxA?si=It0nny5SU-1oU-gj

Stay tuned for more ID videos in the future, and thank you for helping us create content that meets your needs! Happy birding! 🪶

07/17/2024

Species Spotlight: the Tennessee Warbler (TEWA)!

This gorgeous warbler can be distinguished from other warblers by its striking dark eyeline and pale creamy undertail coverts. They often have a short-tailed appearance and have a thin pointy bill in close comparison to other species. Despite their unassuming appearance, these warblers are actually incredibly variable, ranging from bright yellow, to green, grey and even blue! Males typically have more blueish colouration on the head while females are more greenish-yellow, however there is considerable overlap (especially in younger birds) so often sexes can’t be told apart.

The name Tennessee is kind of a misnomer because these warblers breed widely across Canada and only briefly migrate through the states to reach their wintering grounds in Central and South America. Check out the comments for the animated range map to learn more about their migration!

During migration, TEWAs spend a majority of their time foraging below the canopy, often in the undergrowth, and will practice singing their insect-like series of trills. There are already some early reports of migrating Tennessee warblers in southern Ontario, so keep your eyes and ears peeled!

📸 Alessandra Kite, bird handled by a trained professional for research purposes

07/09/2024

Calling all bird enthusiasts! 🐦

Do you find yourself scratching your head when trying to identify certain bird species? You're not alone! Bird identification can be tricky, and we're here to help.

We’ll be posting a video later this month discussing tricky bird groups and photos that you sent in to us, as well as answering any bird identification related questions!

Let us know in the comments if there are any specific bird groups you find difficult to identify (e.g. sparrows, gulls, peeps, etc.) or if you have any photos of birds you'd like help identifying. Our team is here to assist you and help you improve your birding skills!

07/02/2024

Species Spotlight: Dickcissel

Since there’s been a large increase in Dickcissel reports this week in Ontario, we thought it would be the perfect time to share some information about this interesting species!

Dickcissel is in the family Cardinalidae, which also contains some familiar birds such as Indigo Bunting, Northern Cardinal and Scarlet Tanager. While it’s in the same family, it’s not too closely related to the others and is the only member of it’s genus, Spiza.

Dickcissels breeding range includes most of the American Midwest, where they favour pastures and farmland with shrubs and exposed perches to sing on. In the winter they migrate to Venezuela, with some only going as far as northern Central American depending on the conditions.

They’re an interesting species when it comes to their occurrence in Ontario, some years they’re barely present at all and other years they are breeding in low numbers all across southwestern Ontario. So what causes this change year to year? Well there are a few factors involved, but it seems like it’s mainly related weather conditions in their core range. If a drought occurs or their food is in low supply (often related), then many Dickcissels will venture ourside their usual range and set up shop when they find appropriate habitat.

This year a large heat wave event occurred over much of eastern North America during mid June, and immediately following that lots of Dickcissel reports started popping up across Ontario.

If you have any pastures or grassland habitat in your area, it might be worth checking out in the next few weeks… you never know if there might be a Dickcissel around!

📸 - male Dickcissel on the Bruce Peninsula, June 30

06/29/2024

This October we have a very exciting adventure in store! We’re taking to the backroads and exploring Hilliardton Marsh, a hidden gem located in the wilderness of the boreal forest in northern Ontario. We’ve lined this trip up perfectly with the lunar phase because we’re on the prowl for migrating owls! This three day trip includes a private night of owl banding courtesy of the Hilliardton Marsh Research and Education Centre! If you’ve never seen owls up close, this is the perfect opportunity to learn about these fascinating creatures and be a part of important conservation and population research. Here are a number of owls that have been banded during the owl program at Hilliardton Marsh!

Make sure to check out our website for more info about the tour 😉 There’s only 4 spots left but if there is more interest we will consider doing a 2nd tour.

https://www.gyrkitetours.com/service-page/hilliardton-marsh-overnight-tour

📸 Alessandra Kite, all birds held by trained professionals for research purposes.
1, 2: Boreal Owl
3: Alessandra holding a Long-eared Owl
4: Northern Saw-whet Owl
5: Alessandra banding a Boreal Owl

06/26/2024

Have you heard?? A new blog post is out! In Part 1 of the Pelee Island Spring 2024 series, Alessandra recounts one of the best birding days she’s ever experienced!

Read it here!
https://www.gyrkitetours.com/post/pelee-island-spring-2024-part-1-the-arrival-and-the-apocalypse

If you need more convincing to come tour the Island with us, definitely give this a read and check out our Pelee Island services for next spring. We’ve refurbished the 3 day tour so that it will be cheaper for those who want to visit with a group of friends! We even have a new short morning tour at Fish Point for those who want an affordable intro to birding on the Island, or a fun family activity for your trip.

Happy summer birding everyone!

06/22/2024

Our June Newsletter is out! Contact us on our website or private message us your email if you want to sign up and learn more about what we’ve been up to this summer 🙂
We have some exciting summer tours to offer this July including our trip to Carden Alvar and some family friendly naturalist hikes on the Bruce.

We hope to see you in the field! 🙌🌿

06/22/2024

This week’s Species Spotlight: the Green Heron! 💚

The Green Heron (GRHE) is a spunky little bird sporting a wide variety of colours and iridescence that make it pretty distinguishable from other heron species that can be seen in Canada. They range widely across North and Central America; breeders in the south tend to stay year round while the northern breeders in Canada and northern United States are highly migratory! Check out the animated range map (retrieved from eBird) in the comments to watch their migration in action!

Most of you may be familiar with the typical Green Heron morph we get in Ontario, but did you know that there are 3 different colour morphs (plumage variations) of Green Heron? Green Herons can come in their typical morph (pale throat and maroon/green), but also two other morphs that can be seen in Central America: melanistic or dark morph (blackish blue/green), as well as erythristic (dark brown and green).
Have you ever seen a melanistic Green Heron?

Green Herons are incredibly interesting because they’re a species of bird that has learned to use tools for fishing! They will perch next to shallow water and dabble a feather, leaf or invertebrate as bait, then once their prey catches interest they will strike. How cool is that?

Fun fact! The oldest known green heron was banded in 2013 in Texas and was re-sighted in 2023 making it at least 11 years old! Hopefully they’re still kicking and living that cowboy dream 😎

📸 Kiah Jasper at Point Pelee National Park this spring

06/18/2024

We’re kicking off the start of summer by going to the beaches 😎😎 (aka the coastal fens) because who wouldn’t want to spend summer diving into nature??
Join us on a 2 hour morning hike at Petrel Point Nature Reserve, a gorgeous naturalist spot perfect for getting to know the unique plant life and local breeding birds and butterflies!
Dates for the hike are June 30th, and July 2, 9, 12, 14, 17.
Book while you can because there are only 12 spots available per hike!

📸
1. Black-throated green warbler (left), long-tailed blue (right)
2. Blackburnian Warbler (left), freshwater coastal fen (right)
3. Yours truly!

For more information, check out our website through this link!
https://www.gyrkitetours.com/service-page/summer-naturalizing-on-the-bruce?referral=service_list_widget

06/12/2024

Species Spotlight: Wood Thrush

The flute-like song of the Wood Thrush is one of the most iconic and beloved birds songs out of all of Ontario’s breeding birds, and lucky for us they can be heard in forests throughout the southern part of the province. This species is highly migratory, breeding in temperate forests throughout the United States and Canada and Wintering in Central America. Check out this cool weekly range animation made with eBird Data in the comments!

Unfortunately this charismatic thrush has been in steep decline over the past 50 years in our region, due mainly to habitat loss (on both its wintering and breeding grounds), pesticide use, and human introduced mortality during migration such as collisions with windows and feral/outdoor cats.

📸 - Kiah Jasper

06/10/2024

Looking for an exciting summer adventure? Look no further! In early July we’re journeying to Carden Alvar for a day of exploring the unique limestone alvar and grassland habitats. Throughout the day we’ll be searching for speciality species at risk such as Loggerhead Shrike, Grasshopper Sparrow, Upland Sandpiper, Bobolink, and Golden-winged Warbler! There’s even a chance we’ll get a view of Black Bear or Moose, as well as a variety of elusive snake species. If you’re interested in joining us, check out our website for more information!

📸
1. Loggerhead Shrike
3. Upland Sandpiper
5. Grasshopper Sparrow
6. Prairie Rose with sweat bee
9. Red-bellied Snake

Check out the tour through this link!
https://www.gyrkitetours.com/service-page/carden-alvar-adventure

05/21/2024

Heads up birders : )

We’re excited to announce that we now have a newsletter! We’ll be posting about upcoming trips, new blog posts, highlights from past tours and more.

There are two different ways you can sign up:

#1 ➡️ make an account on our website and Log In. This will automatically sign you up for the newsletter

#2 ➡️ Go to the contact form on the website and under the “leave a message” field, just write something like “add me to the newsletter!” and we’ll put you on there (this option is easier if you don’t want to make a full account with us)

And that’s all there is to it!

05/20/2024

This spring in southwestern Ontario has been phenomenal for observing large numbers of migrating spruce budworm specialists such as Cape May Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, and Bay-breasted Warbler! Pictured is a bright male Cape May Warbler in breeding plumage, singing as he forages his way up the beach at Fish Point Provincial Park, Pelee Island. On their breeding grounds in much of the boreal forest of northern Canada, they will forage high in the treetops on the outermost branches, searching for spruce budworm and other insects/invertebrates to bring back to their ravenous nestlings! On April 27th we were lucky enough to witness a huge early push of these gorgeous birds and saw 211 individuals in one morning refuelling low in the shrubs and along the beaches of Pelee Island. Nearly a week later we saw another large push of around 200 Cape Mays making their way into southern Canada.

Spring migration is far from over as there are still many late spring warblers making their way north as we speak! Keep an eye (and most importantly your ears) open for Blackpoll Warblers and Bay-breasted Warblers foraging high up in the leafed canopy as the spring progresses!

📸 Kiah Jasper - Cape May Warbler

05/18/2024

We’re back! After nearly a month of guiding around the Pelee Island and Point Pelee National Park area, we have now returned back to Bruce County for the season. We have a few more hikes left to close off the spring, then we’ll be busy leading at from late May into early June!

Our spring in Southwestern Ontario was a whirlwind experience, highlighted by lots of good birds, seeing familiar faces again and meeting great new people. Stay tuned for a blog post on our May season in the coming weeks!

We hope everyone is having a great migration season 😁⛅️🌱

📸 by Kiah Jasper
1 - Palm Warbler
2 - Yellow-rumped Warbler
3 - Yellow-rumped Warbler
4 - Willet
5 - Blanding’s Turtle
6 - Cape May Warbler
7 - Northern Parula

04/26/2024

04/22/2024

Happy Earth Day!! 🌍🌏🌎

Today is the perfect day to pick up tricks and tips that will help us build a healthier relationship with the environment around us. You can start small by simply turning off or minimizing light use at night, not only to conserve precious energy, but to make it less stressful for our native migrating wildlife and help them to navigate through our cities and urban sprawl.

This evening we’re celebrating the beauty of the earth by hosting a woodcock watching night in our yard on the Bruce Peninsula! Check our website for details and booking ($30 per person).

Pictured is an adult White-crowned Sparrow, a gorgeous migrant that was captured for research purposes as it was migrating through Burlington, ON.

04/20/2024

PEENT! Next Monday, April 22nd, join us for an evening of American Woodcock observation from the comfort of our property on the Bruce Peninsula.

During April, the American Woodcock is feverishly displaying and staking out its territory, often displaying from sunset all the way through the night! We’ll enjoy front row seats to this amazing spectacle, with woodcocks flying right over our heads and calling beside us. We will also listen for other birds that call here near dusk, such as Common Loon, Wilson’s Snipe, Sandhill Crane and Great Horned Owl! Muffins, coffee and tea provided ☕️

For more information & to register, click on this link!
https://www.gyrkitetours.com/service-page/pop-up-woodcock-night

04/13/2024

White-eyed Vireos are a striking songbird that can be found breeding across much of the eastern and central United States. They are especially known for their secretive behaviour, skulking in thickets and dense leafy shrubbery, providing birders only fleeting views of their gorgeous yellow spectacles and unique white iris. Every spring, White-eyed Vireos may stray farther north than their anticipated breeding range and end up in Southern Ontario! Pelee Island is a great location to find any wandering vireos, and late April is the perfect time to observe these fascinating birds up close and personal because the leaves haven’t fully grown out to obscure them. In some years, pairs of White-eyed Vireos may set up shop and breed on the Island!

In two weeks we’ll be leading our first tour to Pelee Island, and White-eyed Vireos are one of the birds that we’re most excited to look for! It’s not too late to sign up, everyone is welcome! (And don’t worry, it also happens to be the best time to avoid mosquitoes 😉)

Check out our Pelee Island Tour through this link!
https://www.gyrkitetours.com/service-page/pelee-island-overnight-tour

📸 Alessandra Kite - White-eyed Vireo (wild bird handled with appropriate training and permits for research purposes)

04/11/2024

It’s flicker season right now in Ontario! Currently we’re at the peak of Northern Flicker migration here in southern Ontario, with massive numbers surging into the province with the warm temperatures this week.

Did you know it’s possible to observe over 500 of these birds in one morning? This species, along with others such as American Robin, American Goldfinch and Eastern Bluebird (and many more!) are what’s called diurnal migrants, which means they migrate during daylight hours, usually between dawn and the first several hours of daylight. As they move through they’re often concentrated along the shorelines of the Great Lakes, and with the right conditions you can witness a huge flight of flickers during a morning of watching.

So what weather leads to big flicker flight day? Well there’s a number of factors involved, but here are some good things to look for.

1) Several days of sustained warm weather and clear skies in early-mid April

2) To pick a day to go out, look at your weather app for Southeast wind along the Lake Huron shoreline, Southwest or West along the western Lake Ontario shoreline, or light south along northern Lake Erie. Then make sure it’s a clear day with not much rain in the province

04/05/2024

Spring has begun, and we’re so excited to share it with you! To celebrate our first spring of business we’re offering 50% off of all our Point Pelee Group Tours! Use the code “Pelee2024” at the checkout to apply the discount. This code is only valid until the end of April so make sure to book while you can!

Come with us for a whole day of birding and hiking at one of Canada’s most popular migration hotspots! It’s possible to observe well over 100 species during a good day of migration in May at Point Pelee!

Link below ⬇️
https://www.gyrkitetours.com/service-page/point-pelee-group-tours

04/02/2024

Yesterday we had the pleasure of guiding a lovely group who had won a tour through the Lion’s Head Hospital Auxiliary Online Auction this past December. Our goal was to explore some birding hotspots along the Rankin River System, pick up some early (and lingering) migrants, and check out some cool hiking spots on the Bruce! It was a gorgeous day with mild weather, partial sun and LOTS of bird song! One of our highlights (besides bountiful Bald Eagles) was this hunting Northern Shrike that felt comfortable enough to perch for a while right overhead. Soon this little friend will be flying back to the Arctic for the summer to breed.

📸 Kiah Jasper - Northern Shrike

03/25/2024

On March 23rd we kicked off the first official GyrKite Birding Tours hike! Algonquin Provincial Park is a breathtaking natural space with fantastic wildlife specialties, and we were certainly caught up in its beauty that day. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience, with amazing weather, birds, and company!

A phenomenal number of finches were foraging throughout the park, more than we had ever seen in Algonquin before. We saw huge numbers of Pine Siskin, Common Redpoll, Purple Finch, and American Goldfinch, although our trip report totals are certainly an underestimate. Both White-winged and Red Crossbills could be seen and heard singing at multiple spots within the park, and we got excellent views of Evening Grosbeaks foraging in mixed finch flocks at the Vistors Centre. While admiring the chattering song of several White-winged Crossbills we were delighted to the sound of a Black-backed Woodpecker drumming just behind us, and watched as it dipped in and out from behind his prized telephone pole. Some other highlights were fantastic views of Golden Eagle and American Goshawk, which both flew right over the group.

The weather was gorgeous and sunny all morning with almost no wind and mild late winter temperatures (-11-0C). It only started clouding over with flurries just as we were heading out of the park (thanks for holding out on us!🤝)

Thank you to everyone who supported us on this hike, and we hope to see you again soon!

Check out our trip report through this link!
https://ebird.org/tripreport/214824

03/23/2024

Today Alessandra and I were leading a tour through the Simcoe region with a handful of birders, when we decided to stop at the Stayner Lagoons to check for geese. We were not disappointed! Just as we were arriving we noted the field beside the road was covered in geese, which we assumed were Canadas. Upon putting our binoculars up though, we discovered at least 80% of the birds were Cackling Geese! After some thorough counting we came up with a total of 822, which is over 500 higher than the previous highcount for the province! (309, also at this location in the fall of 2022). Truly a spectacle to witness, it’s insane how much this species has increased in Ontario recently

03/17/2024

Right now we’re visiting Hilliardton Marsh Research and Education Centre to experience the beauty of the north in early spring. A highlight of the trip so far is this gorgeous Northern Hawk Owl spotted while driving up to the station! We were also fortunate to help out with banding and got many close encounters with Evening Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, and American Tree Sparrows. The Red-winged Blackbirds are back at the marsh in full force, an unusual observation because they don’t usually arrive this far north until April! It has certainly been an early spring in terms of migrant birds. The weather is also quite mild up here. There isn’t much snow on the ground but flurries this evening and tomorrow might change that soon 😉