Brendan has been interested in birds and the natural world for as long as he can remember. Growing up in Toronto, he spent his free time exploring green spaces across the city and volunteering at the Toronto Bird Observatory. Eventually Brendan decided to get serious in life and find a way to work with birds full-time, so he went back to school to study ornithology. He completed his PhD at York University in Toronto, where his dissertation focused on how habitat quality can affect the long-term survival of Wood Thrushes. While conducting fieldwork for the project, Brendan lived at Long Point Bird Observatory’s Old Cut Research Station and has volunteered his time at Long Point regularly since then. Brendan loves to share his passion for the natural world and jumped at the opportunity to teach ornithology at York University and help instruct field courses at Algonquin Provincial Park.
Brendan currently works for Birds Canada as the Ontario Forest Birds Program Coordinator, where his work is focused on conserving forest-dwelling species-at-risk. Away from work, Brendan loves to travel and see all the diversity the world has to offer. Birds are always the primary target, but whenever possible, Brendan loves to explore at night when many otherwise elusive animals are more easily seen. In addition to birding extensively in Ontario, Brendan has recently spent time in New Brunswick, Florida, Texas, Arizona, western Mexico, and Panama. He also has also birded Costa Rica and parts of Australia, including a trip targeting Tasmanian endemics.
