Willow Ptarmigan
Lagopus lagopus

f14 @ 1/1000s, ISO:1250, Nikon D80 w 500mm

\"Willow Ptarmigan,\" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 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 the British Isles, where it was previously believed to be a separate species, as the Red Grouse. It is a sedentary species, breeding in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada, in particular in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador. 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 black tails (though the red grouse does not adopt a winter plumage). The species has remained little changed from the bird that roamed the tundra during the Pleistocene.

Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

11/17/2008