Willow ptarmigan

The willow ptarmigan ( TAR-mi-gən; Lagopus lagopus) is a bird in the grouse tribe Tetraonini of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse. The willow ptarmigan breeds in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, and Canada, in particular in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. It is the state bird of Alaska. In the summer, the birds are largely brown, with dappled plumage, while in the winter, they are white with some black feathers in their tails. The species has remained little changed from the bird that roamed the tundra during the Pleistocene. Nesting takes place in the spring when clutches of four to 10 eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground. The chicks are precocial, so soon leave the nest. While they are young, both parents play a part in caring for them. The chicks eat insects and young plant growth, while the adults are completely herbivorous, eating leaves, flowers, buds, seeds, and berries during the summer and largely subsisting on the buds and twigs of willow and other dwarf shrubs and trees during the winter.