Did You Know?
- The Rock Ptarmigan is also known as a Ptarmigan, Partridge or my personal favourite, Snow Chicken
- These tundra birds have developed very strong, shovel-like claws, which are perfect for digging through the snow
- The Rock Ptarmigan will change colours during the different seasons as a method of camouflage
- The male Snow Chicken will protect their territory by relying a on a variety of tactics such as aerial manoeuvres, calls and good ol’ fashioned chasing
The Changing Snow Chicken
The Rock Ptarmigan can be found living throughout the arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Europe and Russia. As such, these members of the Grouse family have had to develop a few adaptations in order to withstand this harsh environment. As mentioned above, these unique birds have powerful, shovel-like claws which are perfect for digging through the wonderful, white, fluffy stuff known as snow (they need to dig in the snow so they can find the tasty seeds below). Much like the Snowshoe Hare, the Rock Ptarmigan is known for changing from brown in the summer to a nice winter plumage in the winter. Naturally, this helps them blend into their environment and hide from any hungry predators looking for a snack. Interestingly enough, the males tend to take longer to change colours than their female counterparts. To be honest, this surprises me a little since based on my experience it is always the female that takes forever to change :).
Going Their Separate Ways
During the winter months, smart animals would pack up and fly south but not the Rock Ptarmigan. Okay, this isn’t entirely true as they will go south a little bit but not enough to get away from the harsh Tundra weather. Although, this migration does provide them with the opportunity to continue feeding on twigs and other vegetation even if it is quite sparse. For whatever reason, the males and females do not like to mix during the winter months. So if you happen to see a group of Ptarmigan in the winter they will either be all male or all female. Perhaps the males just took too long to change so the females decided to go ahead without them.
