Willow Ptarmigan

About the Willow Ptarmigan

The willow ptarmigan ( TAR-mi-gən; Lagopus lagopus) is a bird in the grouse tribe Tetraonini of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse. The willow ptarmigan breeds in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, and Canada, in particular in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. It is the state bird of Alaska. In the summer, the birds are largely brown, with dappled plumage, while in the winter, they are white with some black feathers in their tails. The species has remained little changed from the bird that roamed the tundra during the Pleistocene. Nesting takes place in the spring when clutches of four to 10 eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name

Lagopus lagopus

Family

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

Order

Galliformes

Similar species

Other members of the pheasants, grouse, and allies family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

• Black Francolin Francolinus francolinus
• Blue-breasted Quail Synoicus chinensis
• Brown Quail Synoicus ypsilophorus
• Chukar Alectoris chukar
• Common Quail Coturnix coturnix
• Dusky Grouse Dendragapus obscurus
• Erckel's Spurfowl Pternistis erckelii
• Golden Pheasant Chrysolophus pictus
• Gray Francolin Ortygornis pondicerianus
• Gray Partridge Perdix perdix
• Gray Peacock-Pheasant Polyplectron bicalcaratum
• Greater Prairie-Chicken Tympanuchus cupido