by Frank Keim
Although I’ve never seen White-tailed ptarmigan in the YK Delta, I’ve observed them many times in the Alaska Range. In winter, these perfectly white birds are hard to distinguish from Willow ptarmigan, but in summer their white tail and twig-brown plumage are telltale signs these tubby grouse are indeed White-tailed ptarmigan.
They also nest higher up in the treeless alpine tundra of the mountains and are the only bird species that spends all year at high elevations. They are well adapted to this, since their dense plumage and feathered feet allow them to walk on top of snow and roost inside snow banks. They are so accustomed to the cold that warm weather (70˚F+) can stress them, and they have to cool off by bathing in the snow.
Since they live at high elevations, their main foods are the plant buds, stems, seeds, leaves and flowers of alpine willows, sedges, heathers, grasses and wild flowers, plus various species of berries. In the warm months they eat insects and, like they do in winter, regularly consume grit to help them grind the food in their gizzard.
The males arrive early in spring at their breeding grounds, and after claiming nesting territories, defend them vigorously with loud calls and aerial displays. They will confront other males by raising their red eye-combs, lowering their body, and running at rivals with powerful clucking calls. The females, who generally winter at lower elevations than males, arrive in the breeding areas later in spring, then inspect displaying males singly or in small groups.
To attract a female, the male performs an elaborate courtship display that includes bowing, ground pecking, parading with his tail tilted and fanned, and spreading his wings while dragging the wingtips on the ground. At the same time, he erects his red eye-combs, and calls and chases any female that approaches him.
Mated pairs stick close together after courting, and males ferociously guard the females until the beginning of incubation, not allowing other males to come near. Some males have two or more partners, but in such cases the male spends more time with his primary partner, usually the older female.
After selecting a nest site on the ground, usually in a rocky area, matted willow thicket or sedge meadow, the female scrapes a shallow depression on the ground with her feet and lines it with dry grass, leaves, and feathers. She lays up to eight light cinnamon-colored eggs with dark brown spots and, after up to 26 days of incubating them herself, they hatch into chicks with their eyes open and covered with dense darkly mottled downy feathers. They leave the nest within 12 hours after hatching.
The mother bird alone tends the young birds and leads them to food, but the young feed themselves. When the chicks are young they eat mostly insects, then gradually switch to more plants. Like their parents, they too swallow grit to help in the digestion of their rough plant food. If a predator shows up, the mother bird tries to distract it by running in zagzags with her wings dragging on the ground, as if she were hurt and can’t fly. Males play no role either in the defense of the brood or in their rearing. Pair bonds last for about three months per year, and about 80% of birds re-partner with the same mate as in the previous year. If females lose their first clutch, they may switch to a different mate in the same breeding season.
The young can fly when they are 10-12 days old, and they reach their full size at 12-14 weeks. The little family breaks up in fall, with the young birds joining winter flocks and the adults often moving up to higher elevations to molt into their white winter plumage.
When the fall storms begin, all of these grouse move down the mountain a ways into more sheltered areas, especially into basins where willow, alder and birch grow around meadows of sedges and grasses. If the weather is especially harsh, they will even move below treeline into spruce forests. They lead sedentary lives in winter, conserving their energy by avoiding flight and often roosting inside snow banks.
The bird’s English name, ptarmigan, comes from the Scottish Gaelic, tarmachan, whose origin is unknown. It also has other common English names: Mountain quail, snow partridge, snow grouse, snow quail, and white quail. It’s scientific name, Lagopus leucera, literally means, “hare-footed white-tail.” The meaning of its Yup’ik name, Taqikataq, is also a mystery, but if I were to hazard a guess, it may refer indirectly to the large size of its family.
Finally, since Taqikataq, lives in such remote areas of North America, little is known about how its population is trending. But among its Alaskan conservation challenges are hunting, habitat damage by road construction, and off-road vehicles. The quickly warming temperatures due to the rapid change in the climate over the past thirty years will also undoubtedly reduce the extent of their alpine habitats and force the birds to nest farther north.
