"Dear Maestro McBirnie, () just blew me away. Great, great playing...Innovative... I have never heard anyone play like this...Great technique and music making. The scales are so even it sounds like he wrote the Taffanel scale book...Bill, when you read this, I have to take my hat off to you. This is great playing by any standard." (Sir James Galway, Galway-Flute-Chat, Message #507, Sunday, December 25, 2005)

“In both duo and quartet formats, McBirnie dazzles...In every instance, his technique is flawless, dynamic and often simply jaw-dropping...McBirnie has been called Canada’s standout jazz flautist. I maintain he is one of the top two or three in the world. “ (MARK E. GALLO, JazzReview.com, May 2010)

“A distinguished flutist with a devotion that shows up in the airy sweetness of his sound at ballad tempos and in the remarkable control he can bring to rapid-fire, skittering runs on up tempo, Coltrane-inspired material.” (Stuart Broomer, Editor, ''CODA'', Toronto Life, April 2004)

“McBirnie has always handled bop exceptionally well. You can hear his years at the conservatory in his sound—a pure, transparent tone at rest, brightening with exertion—yet he swings like someone who grew up with a large collection of Blue Note and Prestige LPs down in the basement. He's entirely idiomatic, but also effortlessly inventive.” (Mark Miller, ''Globe and Mail'', page R6, Thursday, December 19, 2002)

“...All beautifully recorded, unclassifiable, and virtually timeless...” (Michael Steinman, ''Cadence Magazine'', July 2004, page 109))