Willow ptarmigan, the state bird of Alaska

How to recognize it

The willow ptarmigan is a chunky grouse about 14 to 17 inches long, weighing one to nearly two pounds. It is the largest of Alaska’s three ptarmigan species and has a noticeably thick bill.

What it looks like depends on the season. In winter both males and females are pure white except for black outer tail feathers, and their feet are covered in dense feathers that work like snowshoes. In spring the male changes first, growing a chestnut-red head and neck while his body is still white, then turning reddish brown all over except for his white wings. Females are mottled brown all summer, which hides them on the nest.

In spring you may hear a male before you see him. Courting males give a loud, rapid call usually written as go-back, go-back, go-back, and raise bright red combs over their eyes.

Where it lives

Willow ptarmigan live across the Arctic and subarctic of North America, Europe and Asia, in tundra, willow scrub and muskeg, usually at or beyond treeline. In Alaska they have the widest range of any upland game bird. They are missing mainly from the forested valleys of the Interior, the dense rainforest of Southeast Alaska and the western Aleutians.

How it lives

The willow ptarmigan is almost entirely a plant eater, and as its name suggests, it depends on willows. In summer it eats willow leaves; in winter, willow buds, twigs and catkins make up most of its food, along with berries and grit. Chicks start out eating insects.

Unusually for a grouse, the male stays with his mate and helps guard and raise the chicks. In September families join together into larger flocks for the winter.

Where to see one

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recommends several places along the road system: the Chilkat Pass section of the Haines Highway, the Denali Highway, the Richardson Highway between Paxson and Black Rapids, the Parks Highway near Cantwell, and the streams along the Denali National Park road. Remote spots such as Anaktuvuk Pass in the Brooks Range can be even better. In summer look in willow thickets above treeline; in winter the birds move to lower elevations.

Booms and busts

Willow ptarmigan are common over their huge range, most of which is far from people. Their numbers rise and fall sharply from year to year. It is often said that they follow a regular cycle of nine or ten years, but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says that pattern has not been proven for Alaska. They are hunted as game birds.

Chosen by schoolchildren

The ptarmigan became Alaska’s bird through a contest. In the early 1950s Territorial Sportsmen, Inc., backed by the Alaska Sportsmen’s Council, ran a vote among schoolchildren through the territorial Department of Education and the Alaska Native Service schools. About 6,000 children took part, and the willow ptarmigan won by far the most votes. The territorial legislature adopted it in an act approved February 4, 1955; the law names the Alaska subspecies, Lagopus lagopus alascensis. When Alaska became a state four years later, the territorial bird became the state bird.