About Our Guides
Here is some information about your guides, who they are, and why they started this business. Check out this blog post if you want to learn more.
Kiah Jasper
Kiah grew up on the Bruce Peninsula, and having bountiful wildlife in his backyard sparked a love of the natural world at a young age. When he was 4 years old he participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count with his parents, and enjoyed watching Northern Shrikes and Common Redpolls in his yard. His serious fascination with the avian world started when he was 14, when he started actively searching for Snowy Owls around Bruce County and started going out with the Bruce Birding Club. After that there was no looking back, he started feverishly learning everything he could about bird identification and where to find species across the province. He started leading hikes for the Bruce Birding Club and Ontario Field Ornithologists the following year, and for the Huron Fringe Birding when he was 17. Kiah spent several years working as an interpretive naturalist at MacGregor Point Provincial Park, improving his skills as an overall naturalist and leader. In 2022 he set out on a mission to break the Ontario Big Year record, and spent the year travelling all across Ontario in pursuit of this goal. His travels took him from Ottawa, to Point Pelee, Rainy River and Attawapiskat on the coast of James Bay. The result of this was a greater familiarity with the province's geography and birding hotspots, and also a new Ontario record of 359 species seen in one year! Kiah has a fascination with migration, and has spent countless hours watching the sky and lake for migrating raptors, waterfowl and songbirds. He is passionate about sharing his love out the outdoors with others and has always enjoyed leading nature tours around the province.
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Alessandra Kite
Alessandra had always been interested in birds and the natural world since she could remember, spending a majority of her childhood exploring the Hamilton escarpment and the Royal Botanical Gardens. When she was 12 she joined the Hamilton Naturalist Club, regularly participating in birding outings and soaking in knowledge from nature talks. In her first year of highschool she began volunteering with Haldimand Bird Observatory, learning about bird migration monitoring and banding. It wasn't long before the student became the mentor and she began leading guided birding hikes, banding demonstrations, and talks for the public. She furthered her knowledge of the natural world by studying wildlife biology and conservation at the University of Guelph, receiving a Bachelor's degree of science. During this time, she picked up work as an assistant field biologist for Pelee Island Bird Observatory, where she put her banding and birding experience to use studying migration and rare breeding birds across Pelee Island. More recently, she worked as a field technician for Birds Canada's Forest Birds at Risk Program, surveying birds at risk and identifying thousands of birds by sight and sound across Southern Ontario. She has experience leading birding hikes for the Ontario Field Ornithologists, Haldimand Bird Observatory, the Wildlife Club at the University of Guelph, Bird Safe Guelph, the Bruce Birding Club, and the Huron Fringe Festival. Alessandra had always dreamed of creating an organization that helps educate the public on wildlife identification and natural history and the conservation of nature. Now this dream is a reality with the co-creation of GyrKite Birding Tours! Alessandra's goal is to spread her passion of birds and other wildlife with everyone she can, promoting a brighter future for environmental conservation.
