Rock Ptarmigan
Rock Ptarmigan: Small grouse with black, brown, and buff mottled upperparts, white underparts with variable dark mottling, and white wings. Head shows a dark eyestripe. Red combs over the eyes can be retracted or exposed. It has feathers on legs and toes to help it walk in the snow and stay warm.
● Song:
"ah AAH ah AAAAH a a a a "
● Foraging & Feeding:
Rock Ptarmigan: Pecks and tears at vegetation. Consumes leaves, catkins, seeds, flowers, and buds of a wide variety of Arctic plants. Chicks feed on more berries and insect larvae than adults.
● Breeding & nesting:
Rock Ptarmigan: Monogamous and solitary. Both sexes create scape nest in depression often near boulder. Female lines nest with moss, lichens, grass, and breast feathers. Six to thirteen brown and black marked, buff to light brown eggs are laid. Female incubates eggs for 20 to 26 days.
● Similar species:
Rock Ptarmigan: Willow Ptarmigan is larger and has rust-brown plumage. Male has a larger bill. White-tailed Ptarmigan is smaller, has a white tail, and is found in the western range.