February 2020 - Birds on the Wing

A White-winged Crossbill was reported on eBird on Saturday night by Holden Maxfield. This bird would be a lifer so that night I emailed Holden asking for details on where he found the bird. Around 9 am Sunday morning he responded to my email with an excellent description of the bird’s location. We immediately headed to Brainard Lake Recreation Area to find the crossbill.

When we arrived after driving almost two hours, we realized we weren’t properly prepared. Every person in the parking lot had either cross-country skis or snowshoes except us. This of course would have been a wise decision considering the elevation was well over 10,000 feet and it was snowing quite hard. Not to be defeated, we headed out along the snowshoe trail. Thankfully the trail was well packed and the snowshoers were quite nice even if they were a little confused. After hiking almost a mile we reached the location.

Brainard Lake — The tree where the crossbill had been seen the day before (I think). He was not in the fallen tree today.

A Red Crossbill. This bird was the first of a small flock of eight that we saw.

After a little while, we heard tapping in the woods very close to the trail. At this elevation there was a good chance this bird was an American Three-toed Woodpecker but we could not locate it. The only choice was to wade off the trail into the 5 feet of snow to get a look at the tree where the tapping was coming from. Thankfully we walked only a few feet in before locating the bird.

Red Crossbill or White-winged Crossbill — I have gone back and forth on the identification of this crossbill. Unfortunately we never got a good look at this bird’s wings because it was sitting in the very top of a tree. It is probably just a weird Red Crossbill but we may never know.

American Crows — Just about the only other birds we saw that day. A tree full of crows.

Although we didn’t photograph the White-winged Crossbill we did hear its distinctive flight call. Even though we didn’t see it we can still count it as a lifer because we identified it by call. This is not the most glorious way to get a lifer, but it still counts!

The Snow Bunting is a small, mostly white bird. They breed in the Arctic Tundra and their winter range is from Central Canada to the Northern United States. These birds are occasionally seen in the Northeastern part of Colorado but are rare elsewhere in the state.

When a Snow Bunting was reported along Clear Creek Trail in Golden on February 6, 2020 I convinced Dad that it was worth chasing even though it was a weekday. At the time, I didn’t know this bird was the first record ever for Jefferson County. There have been over 400 species seen in Jefferson County so whenever a new species is added to the list it is a big deal. I have heard Snow Buntings before so this bird would not be a lifer. It is always a treat to get a look at a bird you have never seen.

When we arrived, we immediately saw another birder in the parking lot. He told us that the bird was currently being seen along the river and some other birders were still watching it. We speed walked down the trail until we got to the spot the bird had been seen. Aaron Shipe was on the bird and pointed it out to us!

Bird along Clear Creek — Cute little bird!

What a thrilling (and easy) chase!