Animal
Willow ptarmigan
The willow ptarmigan is a plump bird of the cold north. It is brown in summer and white in winter. Its feet have feathers, like snowshoes.
The willow ptarmigan is a plump grouse of the Arctic tundra and northern mountains in North America, Europe and Asia. It changes its feathers twice a year, from mottled brown in summer to white in winter, so it is camouflaged all year. In winter, thick feathers on its feet work like snowshoes, and it lives mostly on willow buds and twigs.
Lagopus lagopus is a mostly resident grouse of low, moist Arctic tundra, willow scrub and openings in boreal forest across the northern hemisphere. BirdLife International assessed it (as willow grouse) as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 28 May 2025, published 2025): the population trend appears to be decreasing, but a very preliminary estimate of 39 to 43 million mature birds is far from any threatened threshold.
Photo: Djiboun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the willow ptarmigan
The willow ptarmigan is a round bird that lives where it is cold.
In summer it is brown. In winter it turns white like the snow.
The willow ptarmigan is a plump grouse of the far north. It changes its body feathers twice a year: mottled brown or gray in summer, and white with a black tail in winter. That way it is camouflaged in every season.
In Alaska it is the largest of three kinds of ptarmigan, with a thick, wide beak. It is about 35 to 43 centimeters long and weighs about 450 to 750 grams. The bird in our photo is a female in summer feathers.
Lagopus lagopus is a grouse (family Phasianidae); BirdLife International and the IUCN call it the willow grouse. Audubon describes molt of the body feathers twice a year, from mottled brown or gray in summer to white with black tail feathers in winter; the sexes are similar, the male slightly larger, and in summer the female is the better camouflaged, a duller mottled brown. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) calls it the largest of Alaska's three ptarmigan, with a thick, wide bill.
Audubon gives 35 to 43 centimeters, a wingspan of 61 to 69 centimeters and 450 to 750 grams; ADF&G gives a weight of 570 grams.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.35 to 0.43 m
- Wingspan
- 0.61 to 0.69 m
- Weight
- 0.45 to 0.75 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- 2 years
Willow thickets on the tundra
Willow ptarmigan live on the tundra, a cold, treeless land.
They like places with lots of small willow bushes.
Willow ptarmigan live mostly on the Arctic tundra, a cold land where trees cannot grow. They also live in mountains near the tree line and in clearings in northern forests. They like low, damp ground with small shrubs, mosses and grasses, and especially thickets of dwarf willow.
They live across the north of North America, Europe and Asia, in places such as Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and Scotland.
The IUCN describes a bird primarily of Arctic tundra, extending south in alpine mountain ranges and along or below the tree line in openings of boreal forest, preferring low, moderately moist areas with low shrubs, mosses, grasses and herbs and avoiding rocky or lichen-rich tundra and steep slopes, from sea level to 1,980 meters. Audubon stresses lower wet tundra with abundant dwarf-willow thickets, muskeg, and shrubby willow growth near timberline in mountains.
ADF&G notes that it chooses wetter places and more luxuriant vegetation for breeding than Alaska's other two ptarmigan, that tall bushes are important, and that it also lives in Canada, Scotland, Scandinavia and Russia.
Continents
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Tundra, willow scrub and openings in northern forests where willow ptarmigan live all year or come to breed, across the north of North America, Europe and Asia. Ptarmigan live only in the north or in the mountains of most countries shown. The IUCN also lists Germany and Czechia, Spain outside the breeding season, introduced birds in Belgium and the Faroe Islands, and a former introduction on Saint
Places: Belarus, Canada, China, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Latvia and 7 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Norway, UK, United States, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Russia, Ireland and 23 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
A diet of willow
Willow ptarmigan eat willow buds, twigs and leaves.
They eat berries too. Chicks eat little bugs.
The willow ptarmigan is well named: willow is its most important food. In winter, willow buds, twigs and catkins make up four-fifths or more of what it eats in Alaska. In summer it eats the leaves of willow shrubs, and also birch and other plants.
In fall and spring it eats berries such as crowberries and blueberries. It swallows small stones, called grit, to help grind up tough plant food. Young chicks eat mostly insects and spiders at first.
The IUCN gives buds and twigs of willow (Salix) and birch (Betula) in winter, and leaves and berries of Vaccinium and Empetrum from spring to autumn (de Juana et al. 2016). ADF&G says willow leaves often outrank any other summer food and that willow buds, twigs and catkins provide four-fifths or more of winter food in Alaska, with berries in fall and overwintered berries in spring.
Audubon describes an almost entirely vegetarian adult that nips off food while walking, eats willow, alder and birch buds, leaves and twigs, berries such as crowberry and blueberry and some insects, and regularly swallows grit to help digest rough plant material; young chicks feed mostly on insects and spiders at first.
Did you know?
Ptarmigan dads help look after the chicks.
Unlike other grouse in North America, male willow ptarmigan usually help care for their chicks.
ADF&G says males usually help care for the chicks, unlike other North American grouse and ptarmigan.
Snowshoe feet and changing coats
In winter, the ptarmigan's feet are covered in feathers.
The feathers work like snowshoes on soft snow.
In winter, a willow ptarmigan's feet are covered in feathers right to the tips of the toes. The feathers make its feet bigger, so they work like snowshoes and let it walk easily over fresh snowdrifts.
Its feathers change with the seasons. In late spring a male may have a white body with a chestnut head and neck, then become mostly reddish brown with white wings. By August, males are already growing white feathers again for winter.
Audubon notes that in winter the feet are heavily feathered to the toe tips, increasing their surface area so they act as snowshoes on fresh drifts; ADF&G calls the feathered feet a distinctive feature that helps this sedentary bird on frozen ground.
ADF&G describes the male's complex molt: a white patch behind the bill for two or three weeks in spring, a chestnut-red cape from early May worn during courtship, a second, lighter brown set of neck and breast feathers that is never completed, and white winter feathers starting in early August, so that by mid-August a male wears a patchwork of four feather sets. In winter only another ptarmigan can tell males from females (ADF&G).
A nest under a willow
The mother makes a nest on the ground, often under a bush.
The chicks leave the nest a few hours after they hatch.
The female builds a nest in a shallow dip on the ground, often under a willow shrub or a clump of grass, lined with grass, leaves, moss and feathers. She lays about 6 to 11 eggs, which are red when first laid and dry to a blotchy blackish brown. She keeps them warm by herself for about three weeks.
The downy chicks leave the nest with their mother a few hours after hatching and find their own food. Unusually for grouse in North America, the father usually helps care for them. The young can make short flights at 10 to 12 days old.
Laying generally occurs in May and June, with eight to eleven eggs normally laid (IUCN); Audubon gives 5 to 14, usually about 7, and ADF&G 6 to 10. The nest, built by the female, is a shallow scrape lined with grass, leaves, moss and feathers, usually partly hidden in thick vegetation or under a shrub (IUCN; Audubon). Eggs are red when first laid and dry to a blotchy blackish brown; incubation is by the female only, 21 to 22 days (Audubon).
Chicks leave the nest with the female a few hours after hatching and feed themselves; they can make short flights at 10 to 12 days but stay with the female until late summer (Audubon). Unlike other North American grouse and ptarmigan, males usually help care for the chicks, and both parents defend the brood vigorously (ADF&G).
Go-back, go-back!
In spring, the male shows off. He fans his tail and struts about.
He calls go-back, go-back, go-back!
In spring each male claims a patch of ground. He raises the red combs over his eyes, throws his head back, fans his tail, droops his wings and struts about. He also flies up in short loops, calling a loud go-back, go-back, go-back!
In fall, families join into flocks. In Alaska, females often move to lower ground for the winter, and some travel up to about 160 kilometers south. Willow ptarmigan numbers can boom one year and crash a few years later.
Males defend territories from late April or early May, displaying with raised red combs, thrown-back head, fanned tail, drooped wings and strutting, and making short circling flights with a harsh, staccato 'go-back, go-back' call (Audubon; ADF&G). Males usually stay monogamous within a season (ADF&G).
Families form flocks in September; in Alaska females move in small groups to lower elevations, and some Brooks Range birds travel up to 100 miles (about 160 kilometers) south (ADF&G). The IUCN describes the species as sedentary in the UK and Scandinavia, with only short altitudinal movements, but at least partly migratory elsewhere. Numbers swing between abundance and scarcity within a few years; ADF&G says regular cycles are well supported in Iceland but unproven in Alaska.
Did you know?
Willow ptarmigan have feathery feet, like snowshoes.
In winter, feathers cover a willow ptarmigan's feet to the tips of its toes and work like snowshoes.
Winter foot feathering increases the feet's surface area so the birds can walk on fresh drifts (Audubon).
Listen to a willow ptarmigan
Listen to the sound at the start of this page.
It is a real bird of this kind, calling in the United Kingdom.
At the start of this page you can play a real recording of this bird's song and calls. Lawrence Shove recorded it in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and the British Library keeps it with its other wildlife recordings. The archive calls the bird a red grouse, and files it under Lagopus lagopus, the scientific name of the willow ptarmigan.
In North America, Audubon describes courting males flying up with a loud go-back, go-back, go-back. Can you hear anything like it?
The recording on this page was made by Lawrence Shove in the United Kingdom in the 1960s (British Library, shelfmark W1CDR0001407, shared on Wikimedia Commons). The archive describes it as the song and calls of a red grouse and names it Lagopus lagopus. Audubon describes courting males in flight giving a loud, staccato 'go-back, go-back, go-back' and other guttural calls.
Did you know?
Ptarmigan swallow little stones to help them eat.
Willow ptarmigan swallow small stones, called grit, to help them digest tough plant food.
They regularly swallow grit to help digest rough plant material (Audubon).
Least concern, but decreasing
There are many willow ptarmigan in the world.
But in some places there are fewer than before.
The willow ptarmigan is listed as least concern. A very rough estimate puts the number of adult birds at 39 to 43 million, but numbers seem to be going down.
It is hunted in most of the countries where it lives. Too much hunting has been blamed for big drops in Finland, and changes in climate for its shrinking range in parts of Europe. Birds also fly into power lines and deer fences.
BirdLife International assessed Lagopus lagopus as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 28 May 2025, published 2025): an extremely large range and population, with an apparently decreasing trend not thought rapid enough to approach the Vulnerable threshold. The very preliminary global estimate of 39 to 43 million mature individuals builds on 13 million in the USA and Canada (Partners in Flight 2024) and 2.5 to 4 million in Europe (BirdLife International 2021).
The species is hunted everywhere except the Baltic countries, Belarus and China, where it is protected; it probably tolerates heavy shooting, but combined with habitat loss this can cause declines, and important declines in Finland were attributed to excessive hunting (IUCN). European range contractions have been attributed to climatic changes, and birds collide with high-tension power lines and deer fences (IUCN, after de Juana et al. 2016 and Madge and McGowan 2002).
IUCN Red List
How is the willow ptarmigan doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
Amazing facts
-
Willow ptarmigan have feathery feet, like snowshoes.
In winter, feathers cover a willow ptarmigan's feet to the tips of its toes and work like snowshoes.
Winter foot feathering increases the feet's surface area so the birds can walk on fresh drifts (Audubon).
-
Ptarmigan eggs are red when they are first laid.
Willow ptarmigan eggs are red when first laid, then dry to a blotchy blackish brown.
Audubon notes that the eggs are red when first laid but dry to blotchy blackish brown with some pale areas.
-
Ptarmigan dads help look after the chicks.
Unlike other grouse in North America, male willow ptarmigan usually help care for their chicks.
ADF&G says males usually help care for the chicks, unlike other North American grouse and ptarmigan.
-
Ptarmigan swallow little stones to help them eat.
Willow ptarmigan swallow small stones, called grit, to help them digest tough plant food.
They regularly swallow grit to help digest rough plant material (Audubon).
Words to know
- tundra
- a cold, treeless land in the far north or high on mountains
- camouflage
- colors or patterns that help an animal blend into its surroundings
- molt
- to shed old feathers and grow new ones
- catkin
- a dangling cluster of tiny flowers on trees and shrubs such as willows
- grit
- small stones a bird swallows to help grind up its food
- grouse
- a plump, mostly ground-living bird related to chickens and turkeys
Discovery challenge
-
What color is a willow ptarmigan in winter?
What color are most of a willow ptarmigan's feathers in winter?
What is the willow ptarmigan's winter plumage?
- White
- Bright red
- Green
Show the answer
White
White, like snow!
White, with a black tail, so it blends in with the snow.
White with black tail feathers (Audubon; ADF&G).
-
What is the ptarmigan's favorite food?
Which plant is the willow ptarmigan's most important food?
Which plant supplies most of the willow ptarmigan's winter food in Alaska?
- Willow
- Seaweed
- Cactus
Show the answer
Willow
Willow!
Willow: buds, twigs and catkins in winter, leaves in summer.
Willow buds, twigs and catkins: four-fifths or more of the winter diet (ADF&G).
-
What do the feathers on its feet do in winter?
How do feathered feet help a willow ptarmigan in winter?
What is the function of the willow ptarmigan's winter foot feathering?
- They work like snowshoes
- They help it swim
- They help it dig holes
Show the answer
They work like snowshoes
Like snowshoes!
They make the feet bigger, so the bird can walk on soft snow.
Increased surface area lets the birds walk easily over fresh drifts (Audubon).
-
Who helps the mother look after the chicks?
Which parent usually helps the female care for the chicks?
What is unusual about male willow ptarmigan among North American grouse?
- The father
- No one
- A neighbor bird of another kind
Show the answer
The father
Dad helps!
The father usually helps, which other North American grouse do not.
Males usually help care for the chicks (ADF&G).
Places where you might see it
-
Watch
Country
Canada
Canada is the second-largest country in the world, stretching across the north of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and up into the Arctic. It has the Rocky Mountains, thousands of islands and about 42 million people, who speak English, French and many other languages.
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Watch
Country
Norway
Norway stretches along the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula, far into the Arctic. Deep, narrow inlets of the sea called fjords cut into its mountains, and about 5.6 million people live there, many of them near Oslo, the capital.
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Watch
Country
Finland
Finland is a northern European country covered mostly by forest and dotted with tens of thousands of lakes. About a third of it lies north of the Arctic Circle, where the summer sun shines all night. About 5.7 million people live there, most of them in the south.
Explore next
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Animal
Snowy owl
The snowy owl is a large white owl that nests on the Arctic tundra. Unlike most owls it hunts in daylight, and in the endless light of an Arctic summer it may hunt at any hour. Lemmings are its favorite food.
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Watch
Animal
Arctic fox
The Arctic fox lives on the frozen tundra around the North Pole. Its coat changes color with the seasons, white or blue-gray in winter and brown or gray in summer, and it has short ears, a short nose and furry feet to keep the cold out. It eats lemmings, birds and leftovers from polar bears.
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Watch
Animal
Gyrfalcon
The gyrfalcon is the largest falcon in the world, a powerful hunter of the Arctic tundra. Its feathers can be nearly pure white, gray or almost black. It mostly hunts ptarmigans, often flying fast and low to surprise them or chasing them over long distances. Gyrfalcons nest on cliffs all around the top of the world and are listed as Least Concern.
-
Watch
Country
Canada
Canada is the second-largest country in the world, stretching across the north of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and up into the Arctic. It has the Rocky Mountains, thousands of islands and about 42 million people, who speak English, French and many other languages.
-
Watch
Country
Norway
Norway stretches along the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula, far into the Arctic. Deep, narrow inlets of the sea called fjords cut into its mountains, and about 5.6 million people live there, many of them near Oslo, the capital.
-
Watch
Country
Finland
Finland is a northern European country covered mostly by forest and dotted with tens of thousands of lakes. About a third of it lies north of the Arctic Circle, where the summer sun shines all night. About 5.7 million people live there, most of them in the south.
-
Watch
Animal
Greater sage-grouse
The greater sage-grouse is a large grouse that lives only where sagebrush grows, in the dry shrublands of western North America. In spring, males gather on open dancing grounds called leks, puff out their white chests, inflate two yellow air sacs and fan their spiky tails to win a female. In winter it eats almost nothing but sagebrush leaves.
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Watch
Animal
Rock ptarmigan
The rock ptarmigan is a hardy grouse of the high Arctic and of rocky mountain tops in North America, Europe and Asia. It turns white in winter and mottled brown or gray in summer, so it blends in all year. It grows thick feathers on its feet for winter, and it eats buds, twigs, leaves and berries of small tundra plants.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate the Arctic and northern regions of North America, Europe and Asia where willow ptarmigan live.
- Explain how changing feathers and feathered feet help a bird survive in snow.
- Describe what willow ptarmigan eat in winter and summer.
- Describe how both parents care for the chicks and how quickly the chicks grow.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might it help a bird to be brown in summer and white in winter?
- How do snowshoes work, and why might feathered feet work the same way?
- What might happen to a white bird if the snow melted earlier in spring?
Try at home or in class
- Snowshoe test: press a finger and then a flat hand into a tray of flour or sand. Which sinks less? Talk about why big, feathered feet help on snow.
- Camouflage hunt: hide a brown paper bird and a white paper bird on brown cardboard, then on white paper. Which is easier to find on each?
Key vocabulary: tundra, camouflage, molt, catkin, grit, grouse
Where these facts come from
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- Lagopus lagopus, willow grouse (BirdLife International, assessed 28 May 2025, published 2025) , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Lagopus lagopus: population, ecology and threats text , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Lagopus lagopus: IUCN Red List global assessment record (BirdLife International 2025), IUCN checklist on GBIF , GBIF
- Willow Ptarmigan (Guide to North American Birds, text by Kenn Kaufman) , National Audubon Society
- Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) species profile , Alaska Department of Fish and Game
- File:Lagopède des saules - Abiskojaure 10.jpg (female in summer plumage, Abiskojaure, Sweden, 23 August 2019, Djiboun) , Wikimedia Commons
- File:Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus) (W1CDR0001407 BD28).ogg (Lawrence Shove, United Kingdom, 1960s, British Library) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.