The smallest bird in the grouse family at 12 to 13 inches in length, white-tailed ptarmigan are indigenous to the mountainous regions of the western contiguous U.S., Canada, and Alaska. In Colorado, along Mount Evans Scenic Byway is a productive location to search for them.

Chicken-like in shape, their colors during summer are mottled or a barred grayish-brown with white wings, tail, and underbelly. In winter, they turn completely white to better blend in with the surroundings. Its striking red eyebrow is the only giveaway to its otherwise invisible camouflage.

Feathers keep their feet toasty. Plumage around the ptarmigans’ nostrils warm the air before it is inhaled. White-tailed ptarmigan are the only birds in the United States that stay in the alpine zone all winter without migrating. Snow banks make convenient roosts and cached willow buds provide much of their diet during this period.

Male ptarmigan arrive at their breeding grounds in April followed by the females in early May. With pair bonds established, four to eight light cinnamon-colored eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground and attended by the male for 23 days. Born with eyes wide open, the chicks are covered in fluffy down and will leave the nest within 12 hours of hatching.

Emitting low soft hoots and clucking noises, they sustain themselves on flowers, insects, leaves, and bulbils of knotweed in summer. Often times found feeding at the edges of receding snow drifts, if temperatures exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit, they may indulge in a “snow bath.”

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