Birders Nearby

07/17/2026

The Big Year Podcast is back on the road again. I’ve spent the last year speaking to birders from all over Ontario and put them all together for your listening pleasure. I’ve also got a special guest at the end. Someone I’ve talk about but you have never heard from. We spoke while, yeah, on the road. Actually on the road while driving. Stick around to the end to finally meet this special person in my birding life.

07/15/2026

Back on the Road Again

Yes, once again, I am back on the road again. Welcome back to the Big Year Podcast, I remain and am still Robert Baumander and you’re well, you. And thanks for being you and taking the time to listen. Today we’re taking a little break from Big Year Birders and talking to a few birders I’ve met on the road and talked to over the past year. ...

Yes, once again, I am back on the road again. Welcome back to the Big Year Podcast, I remain and am still Robert Baumander and you’re well, you. And thanks for being you and taking the time to li…

07/13/2026

Male and female Dickcissels right here in Brantford. A rare summer sighting of this sparrow-like bird. Here in southwestern Ontario, we are at the furthest north of their breeding range. From the back these birds can be mistaken for a House Sparrow, but from the front the male’s distinctive yellow throat and black “beard”is unmistakable. The female is just as beautiful but lacks the “facial hair.” 😉 So having a pair, possibly nesting here, is a treat. Once the male has mated with the female, she becomes a single mother, responsible for building the nest, incubating the eggs and raising her young, to get them ready for the trip south to the tropics for the winter. I got to enjoy watching this pair of birds with a pair of birders, my friend Andy Nguyen and his partner.



While you’re here, please check out The Big Year Podcast, with a new episode, Back on the Road Again, coming on July 15, 2026. The Big Year Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, PodBean or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Learn about what it takes to do a Big Year from the birders who experienced one first hand. My new book, “Have You Seen a Seagull?” is now available in print at Wild Birds Unlimited Kitchener and The Old Cut Field Station in Long Point, Ontario. It’s also available digitally on Apple Books.

06/15/2026

The Big Year Podcast is back, after a break for Spring Migration
This month we have two guests. Our first guest is Tobin Brown, who did a Nebraska Big Year, and broke the previous record for birds seen in the state for a single year. And our second guest, Brooke Showan will tell her story of having found, through serendipity, or just really good bird spotting skills, the Whooping Crane many of us drove to northern Ontario to see, just as I was finishing up the previous episode with Roberta Bondar, where we discussed her involvement with the Conservation efforts of the Whooping Cranes in North America. Plus, you’ll get to hear me ramble on as I do, and enjoy my chit-chat with two fine birders from very different backgrounds. Join me, won’t you.

While you’re here, check out previous episodes of The Big Year Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, PodBean or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Learn about what it takes to do a Big Year from the birders who experienced one first hand. My new book, “Have You Seen a Seagull?” is now available in print at Wild Birds Unlimited Kitchener and The Old Cut Field Station in Long Point, Ontario. It’s also available digitally on Apple Books.
And if you’re looking for a bird feeder camera for your yard, why not try out the PerkPeck Smart Feeder Cam. Check out the link here, https://peckperk.com/?ref=BigYear and use promo Code ROBERTBAUMANDER for a 10% discount. Thanks!

06/15/2026

Season 4, Episode 3: Tobin Brown’s Nebraska Big Year, and a Whooping Craine update

A hardy welcome to summer birding and the return, after a break for migration, of The Big Year Podcast. Seems silly of me to tell you the title of the show, since you must have known it when you clicked on the podcast to begin with. Today, we have two guests. Our first guest is Tobin Brown, who did a Nebraska Big Year, and broke the previous record for birds seen in the state for a single year. ...

A hardy welcome to summer birding and the return, after a break for migration, of The Big Year Podcast. Seems silly of me to tell you the title of the show, since you must have known it when you c…

06/10/2026

Thanks to my Feeder Camera I was able to enjoy, not just birds, but a Monarch Butterly as well.

06/10/2026

Western Banded Glowworm,(Zarhipis integripennis): We normally see these at night, flitting around our front garden, glowing in the dark. The glowworm, is in the beetle family. Glowworms are bioluminescent creatures and the females emit a constant glow. Male fireflies emit a flash their light to attract mates. I took these photos with my iPhone 17 Pro this afternoon, in our front yard native, wildflower garden. Nature has a much better imagination than Hollywood or AI. Why use AI when there are millions of wonderful species to discover, every day, in every environment on Earth?

06/01/2026

31 Shades of Yellow, Day 31: Yellow-browed Warbler.
And we have come to the final and rarest bird of all the yellow-ish warblers. In April of 2021, while we were all supposed to be hiding in our homes because of C-19, a birder by the name of Pat Hare, discovered an odd warbler that reminded him of a bird he had seen on the other side of the world. It was quickly identified as a very, very lost Eurasian species, known for its long migrations,(up to 6000 km each way). Trouble was, it migrated not to Siberia, but to Canada. Must have taken a wrong turn at Leningrad. True to its name, it has a pale yellow eyebrow, along with streaked yellow wings. Alexander Wilson would have probably called it a Mongolian Warbler, or some such thing. A large contingent of Ontario birders defied Covid restrictions and descended on Shalebank Hollow Park for this once in a life time discovery. We all had a great time, and no one got Covid.

05/31/2026

31 Shades of Yellow, Day 30: Connecticut Warbler.
Before we go any further, any guesses as to who might have named this particular species? Has a penchant for using state or city names, initials A.W. You got it, our friend, nineteenth century ornithologist, Alexander Wilson. This large warbler, spends most of its time on the ground, hiding amongst the leaves and branches and is rarely seen. In the spring it can be heard singing, searching for a mate, but no matter the season, they are notoriously difficult to see well and even harder to photograph. I’ve counted 6 over the years, 4 in Ontario and one each in Cape May, New Jersey and Central Park in New York. I’ve heard most singing or chipping, seen all or part of each one, enough to identify,(the large eye ring being diagnostic), but only ever photographed one. Pictured is the Connecticut Warbler I saw in Central Park in June of 2016. No longer in breeding plumage, its belly is pale yellow and wings a dull, yellow-green.