Birding delight at Breckinridge
View of mountain range at Breckinridge. Photo by author.
There are more than 800 bird species in North America. I am thousands of species away from the global “10,000 bird barrier” broken by Peter Kaestner in 2024. I am simply delighted to have added three new-to-me species on a winter 2025 ski trip. I also witnessed more than 100 crows rising with the sun. Breck is known for big mountain skiing. I’m adding birds to the list of reasons to go back.
I did not go on this trip with the intention to look for birds. Indeed, I forgot to pack my binoculars. I often forget to bring my binoculars unless I am close to home because they are bulky. I need a pair of travel-ready bins. The two species were incidental birds while slow skiing.
After two days of instruction, some of which was uncomfortably intense for me, I struck out on my own. My goal for the trip was to enjoy the wide, powdery trails characteristic of western mountains in contrast to the narrow, icy slopes of the northeast. I don’t need to “go all in” and master blue and higher ranked terrain. I am a content skier of green trails.
Some people might label me as cautious. Perhaps I am. I like to think of myself as careful and aware of my surroundings unlike the recklessly fast snowboarders and skiers. This tuned in approach is what led me to noticing three new species plus tens of tens of crows.
Cone and needles of Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine. Photo by author.
The ski town boasted lots of evergreen conifers specifically in the Pine family like Englemann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) and Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata) as well as deciduous broadleaf trees Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides). One of the best features of the resort is the large number of treed areas near the trails of all skill levels.
Slowly easing off a chairlift whose name means mercurial wasn’t lost on me. As I awkwardly skated away from the clusters of skiers to set myself up—put on my gloves, adjust my goggles, etc.—to ski down, I noticed movement in a nearby stand of conifers.
Honestly I did not identify the tree. My focus was on this unusual bird which was about the size of a jay. I would later identify the bird as a Canada Jay. I should have taken a photo so I could definitely identify the bird. I was too spellbound. Because I am not 100% sure of my ID, I haven’t added the species to my eBird list. I engaged in a bit of wishful thinking the bird was a Clark’s Nutcracker. However, the longer tail and head pattern point to a Canada Jay.
The next two birds on my list I positively identified by sight and confirmed by sound using the Merlin app. But let’ start with crows because thats what led me to the Pine Siskin and Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli). On the final morning of our ski trip, I woke up at 6:30 a.m. I wanted to sear the view out the living room window in my memory so I opened the blinds and stood by the French doors.
Crow in flight over evergreen conifers in a foggy sky. Photo by Tim Mossholder: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bird-flying-over-trees-during-foggy-weather-3260289/
Starting at 6:41 a.m. (yes, I checked my watch), American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) began flying down the mountain as the sun rose. I counted more than 115 crows over the course of about 20 minutes. They were flying from the southeast with a half moon in the sky. Most of the crows flew towards the northeast but a several banked to the northwest. Most of the crows flew high but some were low enough it felt like I could make eye contact.
Mountain Chickadee perched on a branch. Photo by Greg7 on Flickr via CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poecile_gambeli_Spooner_Lake.jpg
Pine Siskin perched on a branch tip. Photo by pete weiler from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/pine-siskin-bird-20206649/
By 7:05 a.m., I did not observe additional crows but I lingered on the balcony. I’m glad I did. In front of the balcony was a line of Engelmann Spruces. I heard song and saw movement. I did not pack my binoculars for this trip (I’m still making this rookie mistake) so I knew I would need more than my vision to id the birds in front of me. The Mountain Chickadee was the second songbird I saw in the spruces and the black cap and throat were tells. Merlin confirmed the id with the bird’s song. The Pine Siskin was a different story. I noticed wing bars and a streaky body. Although the birds seemed finch-like—they are finches—there was something distinctive about them which made me hold back from identifying them as female House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). I stood patiently on the balcony recording two minutes of vocalizations to confirm Pine Siskin and Mountain Chickadee. Both species are lifers; I had not to my knowledge encountered them before.
The skiing was amazing—lots of fresh powder, and time on the mountain with family. Seeing the birds was the delicious icing on a very good cake.
