Rock Ptarmigan

Lagopus mutaOrder: GALLIFORMES Family: Turkeys and Grouse (Phasianidae)

Codes: Common Name: ROPT Scientific Name: LAGMUT ITIS Taxonomic No.: 677542

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

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.

Flight Pattern

Flap and glide flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Rock Ptarmigan: Tundra species of barren rocky land. Found from western Aleutians, throughout Alaska, northern Canada, Arctic, into Greenland.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationNorthern birds migrate

^Weight14.9 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Rock Ptarmigan

Rock Ptarmigan

Flight Pattern