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The Ptarmigan - Lagopus muta
The ptarmigan is a small grouse that lives in the north and central Highlands. It is known as the snow goose or gealag bheinne, meaning white one of the mountain. The ptarmigan is around twelve inches in length with a wingspan of twenty-two inches. It may weigh up to one pound.
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The Highlands of Scotland are ideal for seeing ptarmigan and a variety of wildlife.
You can go along on guided excursions with the wildlife experts at Heatherlea.
Please click the link below for further details.
Ptarmigan Fun Fact - The Japanese call the ptarmigan ‘raichou’. It means thunder bird, as according to legend the ptarmigan protects people and buildings from fire and thunder.
The ptarmigan has white plumage in the winter, except for its black tail. It changes its plumage in summer when it turns a mottled grey and brown. It retains its white winter wings and under-body, and its black tail. The mottled appearance of its plumage offers good camouflage in its habitat.
The ptarmigan favours upland habitats. It lives in areas where rocks are interspersed with carpets of moss and lichen.
It feeds on the dwarf heath of bilberry, crowberry, heather and dwarf willow of the Highlands. It may also take catkins and berries from trees in spring and autumn.
Ptarmigan flocks disassemble in early spring as the breeding season arrives. As soon as the snow melts, the females moult into a barred breeding plumage.
A male may breed with two to three females in his territory.
His courtship display includes circling the female whilst dragging a wing on the ground, fanning his tail, and raising his red eye combs.
The eggs are laid in early May. The nest is a shallow scrape lined with vegetation and feathers. A typical clutch is between five and eight eggs. They are incubated for between twenty-one and twenty-three days. The chicks are able to leave the nest within a day of hatching.
The female tends to her young but they are capable of fending for themselves. They feed mainly on insects, spiders and snails. The chicks can fly in ten to fifteen days, and are fully fledged by twenty to twenty-six days.
Young ptarmigans become fully independent by ten to twelve weeks. They have
a brown juvenile plumage similar to that of the female. It is replaced by white plumage in autumn. The birds are often restless at such a time, as they form their wintering flocks.
