A photo of a Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), male
Willow Ptarmigan, Male

Willow Ptarmigan

Lagopus lagopus

The willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) is a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse and in Ireland and Britain, where the subspecies L. l. scotica was previously considered to be a separate species, as the red grouse. It 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, but in the winter they are white with some black feathers in their tails (British populations do not adopt a winter plumage). 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 ten eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground. The chicks are precocial and soon leave the nest. While they are young, both parents play a part in caring for them. The chicks eat insects and young plant growth while the adults are completely herbivorous, eating leaves, flowers, buds, seeds and berries during the summer and largely subsisting on the buds and twigs of willow and other dwarf shrubs and trees during the winter.
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Willow Ptarmigans on Birda

Photos

Sightings

A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Kate Jauffur
Sunday 19 Mar 2023 - 4:40pm
United Kingdom
A map showing the sighting location
🦉
Paul Bosh
Saturday 18 Mar 2023 - 11:19am
United Kingdom
A map showing the sighting location
🦚
Jack Baddams
Sunday 12 Mar 2023 - 12:20pm
United Kingdom
A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Yuri Janssen
Friday 10 Mar 2023 - 11:48am
United Kingdom
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