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Willow grouse

Willow ptarmigan
Denali National Park Ptarmigan.jpg
Young male Alaskan willow ptarmigan (L. l. alascensis) in summer plumage,
Denali National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Subfamily: Tetraoninae
Genus: Lagopus
Species: L. lagopus
Binomial name
Lagopus lagopus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Willow Ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus distribution map.png
Willow Grouse range
Willow Ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus distribution in Europe map.png
Distribution in Europe
Willow Ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus distribution in North America map.png
Distribution in North America
Synonyms

Lagopus albus
Lagopus medius Woldřich, 1893
Tetrao lagopus Linnaeus, 1758


Lagopus albus
Lagopus medius Woldřich, 1893
Tetrao lagopus Linnaeus, 1758

The willow ptarmigan (/ˈtɑːrmɡən/) (Lagopus lagopus) is a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse and in Ireland and Britain, where it was previously believed to be a separate species, as the red grouse. It is a sedentary species, breeding in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada, in particular in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the state bird of Alaska. In the summer the birds are largely brown, with dappled plumage, but in the winter they are white with some black feathers in their tails (British populations do not adopt a winter plumage). The species has remained little changed from the bird that roamed the tundra during the . Nesting takes place in the spring when clutches of four to ten eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground. The chicks are precocial and soon leave the nest and 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.


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Wikipedia

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