A new look for every season
By Nutan Shukla

FOUND on high ground in Europe and North America in areas which normally receive substantial winter snow, Ptarmigan, a grouse, is famous for its camouflaged plumage which changes with seasons. Wings and belly of the bird remain white in all seasons, but in the breeding season upper parts of the male become mottled black and brown while those of female are tawny. Both sexes become grey in autumn. When winters arrive both male and female become white as snow which is the most effective camouflage when there is snow all around.

While living in mountains and northern Tundra it eats insects, seeds, mosses and other plant food. Snow is no problem for ptarmigan. To find food it will burrow through the snow to uncover food plants. Not only that if it comes to incubating the eggs in lake snow it does not hesitate.

Chicks which emerge from the eggs are too well prepared to keep themselves alive all through the harsh winters. They need only a few minutes in an hour to forage and that is sufficient for their survival. There are times when even this is not possible due to icy winds and excessively low temperature. Then these chicks return to their parents.

Grouse are stocky and plump birds who have short stubby bills and short wings which provide for powerful bursts of flight over short distances. However, like partridges and quails they also prefer to run to the nearest cover when disturbed. These ground-dwelling birds feed mainly on plant material but they also take insects. Living in temperate and cold climate grouse have dense plumage and their nostrils and legs are covered with feathers. Since these birds spend most of their time on the ground, they depend mostly on their camouflaged-colouring, but during courtship displays their striking colours and markings are revealed. Above their eyes they have patches of bare skin, which are of different colours and can be inflated during courtship displays.

Their hatchlings are well developed and they start running around soon after hatching. During nights they take shelter under their mother’s feathers and keep themselves warm. In most of the species there are no permanent pairs. After mating, females live alone to lay their eggs.

When there is severe cold ptarmigan takes shelter in burrows which it digs itself in snow with its claws that grow longer in winters. By burrowing itself the bird is able to conserve the energy. When the weather is calm they burrow deep because there is no danger of holes getting filled with drifting snow, and the extra depth protects the bird from extremely low temperature at or just below the surface. When there is strong wind, ptarmigan digs shallow holes in open places to prevent itself from being buried.

Depth of the burrows or holes made by these ‘snow birds’ vary from 2-3 cms to 30 cms, depending upon the condition of the snow. They also have feathers on their feet and legs which act like snow-shoes and help not only in reducing the heat loss but also facilitate walking on the snow.

Ptarmigan is known not only for living in severe cold, but it is outstanding in the sense that it spends its winters further north than any other landbird, and does not move south as the other birds do. Even the snow buntings leave the snowfields of the Tundra and migrate to their winter quarters in the south.

The climate in which grouse live is very harsh and it becomes very difficult to find food, specially during winters, but these birds deal with the situation very effectively. During this period birds get very poor quality food, like conifer needles, which are poisonous or distasteful to other birds, but the bacteria which are found in bird’s gut take care of it all. They breakdown this plant material in such an effective way that the bird makes the most out of this highly inferior quality food. Also, during winters, they prefer to remain inactive as far as possible by remaining motionless for hours.

Grouse are known to perform communal courtship displays at their traditional sites which are called leks. They are quite big areas where each male holds his own small territories. Every cock tries to get hold of central territories as they will attract the maximum number of females. Before the arrival of females, males try to establish their superiority. For this they display and fight and thus the ranking order is established to determine who gets which territory.

This feature was published on October 3, 1999