White-tailed ptarmigan sighted in Whitehorse during 2025 Christmas Bird Count

A birder with the Yukon Bird Club reported seeing four white-tailed ptarmigan on Boxing Day at Haeckel Hill during the 2025 Christmas Bird Count, and organizers say the long-running census helps document shifts in bird populations.

A birder in Whitehorse reported finding four white-tailed ptarmigan during the 2025 Christmas Bird Count. Cameron Eckert, of the Yukon Bird Club, said he climbed to Haeckel Hill at sunrise on Boxing Day and followed small tracks to the birds. White-tailed ptarmigan are high‑alpine birds known to occur in southern Yukon but had not been recorded on the Whitehorse count before. The Christmas Bird Count is an annual early‑winter census with a long history of tracking bird presence and distribution. What was recorded: - Cameron Eckert located four white‑tailed ptarmigan at Haeckel Hill, about 20 kilometres from Whitehorse, on Boxing Day. - He reported temperatures near −35 C during the climb and observed very small tracks leading to the birds, which were about five to six metres away and described as tame and white. - The Christmas Bird Count runs from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5 and records birds within a 24‑kilometre diameter; the event is more than a century old. - The State of Canada's Birds 2024 report, cited in the coverage, reported a 28 percent decline in Arctic birds and a 42 percent decline in shorebirds. - Coordinators and participants noted the count helps document changes in populations and habitat use; the report and count organizers linked some shifts to changing conditions and timing that affect breeding and food availability. - The coverage also noted a possible first Yukon sighting of a Eurasian bullfinch during the same count period, reported as an unusual occurrence. Summary: The Whitehorse observation adds a rare local record to this year’s Christmas Bird Count and contributes to a long-term dataset used to track winter bird distributions. National reporting and count coordinators have reported declines in some Arctic and shorebird populations and have described how changing seasonal conditions can affect breeding and food resources. Undetermined at this time.