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Animal of the Week

About Me

Welcome to Animal of the Week. Every week a new animal is featured, ideally using pictures and video submitted by you, my Myspace friends. Submit pictures to [email protected]. Every animal picture submitted will be posted in the pics section and credited to the sender. Feel free to comment and participate in any way. This site is intended to enrich our knowledge of animals through dicussion. The more people that participate the more effective it will be. If you think that this could be a good thing, tell your friends.

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Rock ptarmigans are circumpolar, found in alpine and arctic tundra regions of Canada, Scandinavia, Russia, Finland, Greenland, etc. with scattered southern outposts in Japan, Switzerland, and Spain.

Winter habitat is usually brushy slopes near the timberline, where vegetation pokes through snow. Males tend to remain in alpine-like habitats, while females seek more cover.

Spring and summer habitat is more open, with males choosing territory sparsely covered in stunted brush and with many rocky outlooks from which to keep watch for other ptarmigans.

Chicks tend to prefer swales and ridges without dense brush, where they can fly behind rises to escape danger.

The rock ptarmigan looks like a small grouse or pheasant; adults are beween 13 and 16 inches long. It has pure white plumage in winter, except for a black tail, which is present in both sexes year-round. Both sexes are barred with nondescript brown and black markings in summer, with females more coarsely marked than males. Males wait longer than females to shed the white plumage in the breeding season. This is part of the courtship display, but also leads to heavier predation of males by gyrfalcons. Males have a black streak from beak to eye, a scarlet comb near the eyes, and are generally pale on the upper body in fall. Some, but not all, females show the black eye streak. Females are nearly invisible against the tundra in summer, and are slightly smaller than males.

All ptarmigans have feathered feet, which act as snowshoes, allowing the birds to walk in soft snow. The feathers may also increase insulation for these year-round arctic dwellers.

Females nest on the ground in shallow depressions, lining the nest with small amounts of feathers and plant material. Nesting habitat is most often a bare rocky outcrop with little vegetation. Because some overhead protection is usually sought, the nest is often located close to a large rock.

The female incubates 7 to 10 eggs without help from the male. Incubation typically lasts 21 days, and the downy chicks are able to leave the nest within a day of hatching. The female tends her young, but they feed themselves, and are able to fly at about 10 days. Chicks are independent at 10 to 12 weeks old.

The rock ptarmigan may migrate short distances, leaving highland nesting ground behind in winter and flying southward in flocks toward lowland wintering grounds, but it does not leave the tundra. Sexes separate during winter, forming single sex groups.

Flocks disassemble in early spring. At that time males choose and vigorously defend large territories. High speed aerial chases with much vocalization are common when territory is threatened. The territory display includes elaborate song flights. These begin with the male leaping into the air and flapping. He then flies vertically until he reaches stalling speed, at which point he spreads his tail and parachutes to the ground, making a gutteral, staccato call.

Courtship displays involve the male circling the female while dragging one wing on the ground, fanning the tail, and raising the red eye combs.

Adults are almost exlusive vegetarians, but young chicks feed heavily on insects, spiders, and snails. Major summer diet is a mixture of plant material, especially blueberries, horsetail tips, crowberries, mountain avens, and heads of sedges. Winter foods are mostly buds and catkins of dwarf birch, and some willow buds and twigs.

Rock ptarmigans are popular as game birds, providing both food and fun for residents of the Alaskan hinterlands. They can be hunted with shotguns or snared.

Scarce near arctic settlements, but abundant across vast areas of tundra. Populations are known for great flutuations, usually following a ten year cycle, a phenomenon that is especially well documented in Iceland.

Subspecies include: Lagopus mutus evermanni, L. m. townsendi, L. m. gabrielsoni, L. m. sanfordi, L. m. chamberlaini, L. m. atkhensis, L. m. yunaskensis, L. m. nelsoni, L. m. rupestris, L. m. dixoni, and L. m. welchi.

Other common names include: Arctic grouse, barren-ground bird, rocker, snow grouse, and white grouse.

The name Lagopus means "foot of a rabbit" refering to the ptarmigan's feathered feet, which resemble the furry feet of a rabbit.

Because of its tendency to dwell in mountainous territory where there are frequent storms and much mist, the Japanese call rock ptarmigans "Thunderbird."

Major predators of rock ptarmigan include gyrfalcons and other raptors. Many studies have been done on how ptarmigan populations affect the distribution of gyrfalcons.

My Blog

snowberry clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis)

 The moth's abdomen has yellow and black segments much like those of the bumblebee, whom it might be mistaken for due to its color and flight pattern similarities. The moth's wings lack the large amou...
Posted by on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:08:00 GMT

Discoveries That Saved The Large Blue Butterfly Detailed

 On the 25th anniversary of the project that brought the large blue butterfly back from extinction in the United Kingdom, ecologists are for the first time publishing the decades of research that help...
Posted by on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:23:00 GMT

kori bustard (Ardeotis kori)

 Ardeotis kori lives throughout eastern and southern sub-Saharan Africa. There are two populations of Kori bustards, which are separated by the miombo woodland of Central Africa. The southern populati...
Posted by on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:24:00 GMT

Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica)

 Japanese beetles are native to east Asia; however, they were accidentally introduced into the United States in 1916. In North America they occur from Georgia west to Missouri, north to Ontario and ea...
Posted by on Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:44:00 GMT

Wiping Out The World's Mass Migrations

 Densely packed wildebeests flowing over the Serengeti, bison teeming across the Northern Plainsthese iconic images extend from Hollywood epics to the popular imagination. But the fact is, all of the...
Posted by on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:11:00 GMT

black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas)

 The black-backed jackal can be found only in Africa. The species lives in two discrete areas separated by roughly 900km. One region includes the southern-most tip of the continent including South Afr...
Posted by on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:35:00 GMT

Blue Whale Discovered Singing In New York Coastal Waters

 For the very first time in New York coastal waters, the voices of singing blue whales have been positively identified. Acoustic experts at the Cornell Lab of Ornithologys Bioacoustics Research Progr...
Posted by on Sat, 30 May 2009 12:43:00 GMT

How Seahorses Evolved to Swim "Standing Up"

 Seahores are master mimics that use their cryptic colors and upright posture to blend in with plants. When and why the animals developed these unusual characteristics has been a mysteryuntil now, sc...
Posted by on Thu, 28 May 2009 06:15:00 GMT

ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)

Ocelots are known to inhabit a variety of different types of habitats. These range from dense thorn scrub in the Rio Grande Valley to the tropical forests of the Amazon. Ocelots are also known to live...
Posted by on Mon, 25 May 2009 14:46:00 GMT

saddleback caterpillar (Acharia stimulea)

The saddleback caterpillar (Acharia stimulea), is easier to recognise than the adult moth. This is unusual, and probably explained best by the fact that it is diurnal (active by day) and therefore eas...
Posted by on Tue, 19 May 2009 05:16:00 GMT