Alexandre Lajeunesse
Canada
Founder of The Birding Insights
Favorite bird: Long-tailed jaeger

Hey! I'm Alexandre Lajeunesse and welcome to my author page.

I'm a Canadian birder and trained ornithologist, and the founder of The Birding Insights. This is where I dig into the stories behind rare sightings, range expansions, and the everyday lives of the birds around us. My birding started in Quebec and has taken me all the way to the far end of Patagonia, but honestly the birds close to home surprise and delight me just as much as anything I find halfway across the world. They brighten every adventure, and if you're looking for me, I'm probably somewhere scanning for my favorite, the Long-tailed Jaeger.

My articles

Far Eastern Curlew in Quebec: A First for Eastern North America

A birder went to Carleton-sur-Mer to see a Hudsonian Whimbrel and found the wrong curlew standing beside it. What the record is, and how to behave if you go.

A very large brown curlew with a long decurved bill flying.

Why Crossbills Breed Whenever They Want: The Nomads That Ignore the Calendar

Crossbills turn up when they feel like it, in any month, and then vanish. Here is what decides where they go, when they breed, and how you can find out which population you just met.

A male Red Crossbill gripping a spruce cone with wings raised as snow falls through the conifer

Sexual Coercion in Birds: Conflict, Anatomy, and Who Actually Wins

Courtship and female choice are only part of how birds reproduce. The other part is conflict, and the anatomy it has produced is some of the most remarkable evidence in evolutionary biology.

A pair of Mallards swimming on calm water, the drake close behind the female

Brood Parasitism and the Cuckoo Problem: An Arms Race Fought Egg by Egg

A Song Sparrow feeding a fledgling twice its size is not a bird being stupid. It is the visible end of an evolutionary contest that has been running for millions of years.

A streaky brown Brown-headed Cowbird calling with its bill open, perched on a frost-covered branch

Why Some Male Birds Are Deadbeat Dads: The Real Numbers on Parental Care

Birds have a reputation as the good parents of the animal world. The data says the truth is far more uneven, and the exceptions run in both directions.

A Wilson's Phalarope in breeding plumage swimming on calm green water

Divorce in Birds: Why Even Albatrosses Leave Their Partners

The birds we hold up as models of lifelong partnership do leave each other, and the conditions that make them do it turn out to explain a great deal about how pair bonds work.

A Black-browed Albatross gliding on long narrow wings with snow-covered mountains behind

Same-Sex Pairing in Birds: What the Nests With Too Many Eggs Revealed

It started with a puzzle nobody could explain: gull nests holding twice as many eggs as they should. The answer turned out to be two females, and it landed in the middle of a fight it never asked for.

A Laysan Albatross resting on the open sea with its wings half raised

Birding in Tadoussac and the Haute-Côte-Nord: The Complete Site and Trip-Planning Guide

The Haute-Côte-Nord strings ten serious birding sites along a hundred kilometres of Route 138, and almost none of it is documented in English. Here is where to go, when, in what order, and where to sleep.

The St. Lawrence estuary shoreline and beach below the sand dunes of the Haute-Côte-Nord in autumn

Seabirds of the St. Lawrence Estuary: A Pelagic Trip That Is Not Pelagic

Puffins, phalaropes and jaegers within sight of shore, on water so rich that whales work it alongside the birds. Here is what comes past the boat on the St. Lawrence estuary, and how to name it in the five seconds you get.

An Atlantic puffin sitting on the water of the St. Lawrence estuary

Northern Saw-whet Owl Banding at Tadoussac: A Night With Quebec's Smallest Owl

Saw-whet owls are among the most common owls in the boreal forest and among the least seen. A banding night is the one reliable way to meet one, and it exists because researchers went out after dark and found a migration nobody knew was happening.

A Northern Saw-whet Owl held during permitted banding operations, showing its facial disc and yellow eyes under a headlamp

Why Raptors Funnel Through Tadoussac: Inside a Migration Bottleneck

Soaring raptors will not cross cold water, so coastlines gather them. Where the Saguenay fjord meets the St. Lawrence estuary, that rule produces one of eastern North America's cleanest migration bottlenecks, and one of its great places to stand.

Migrating golden eagle over the sand dunes at Tadoussac with the St. Lawrence estuary and the mouth of the Saguenay fjord below

Côte-Nord Migratory Bird Festival 2026: The Complete Guide to Quebec's Best Week of Fall Migration

Quebec's North Shore hosts its sixteenth migratory bird festival from 21 to 27 September 2026. Here is what the week actually contains, what it costs, and what to book before it fills.

Birders watching migrating raptors from the Yvan-Duchesne lookout above the Tadoussac dunes and the St. Lawrence estuary

Lekking Birds and Their Dance Battles: Why a Few Males Win Everything

Some male birds own nothing, defend nothing, and raise nothing. They gather on a shared stage, dance, and let the females decide. Here is how that system works and why it produces the most extravagant birds alive.

A male Greater Sage-Grouse in full strut on a sagebrush lek, spiky tail fanned and white chest ruff spread around an inflated yellow air sac

How to Watch Bird Courtship Displays: Leks, Timing, and the Optics That Matter

Courtship is the most watchable thing birds do, and the most easily ruined by watching it badly. Here is how to find displays, how to behave at them, and what to carry.

A male Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying at sunrise on a grassy lek, tail raised, wings drooped and purple neck sac inflated

How Do Birds Mate? The Cloacal Kiss, the Pair Bond, and What Actually Happens

The physical act takes about a second, and almost everything interesting about bird reproduction happens around it. Here is the full picture, from anatomy to the social arrangements birds actually run.

A male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker clinging to a lichen-covered tree trunk in early spring