Howdy, friends.  Our bird this week is the rock ptarmigan.  I was looking for birds that live in cold climates, on account of the snow day I am enjoying while writing this.  The rock ptarmigan lives in high latitudes in North America, Europe and Asia, “with in isolated populations in the mountains of Norway, Scotland, the Pyrenees, the Alps, Bulgaria, the Urals, the Pamir Mountains, the Altay Mountains, and Japan—where it occurs only in the Japanese Alps and on Mount Haku.^[16] ”  Anywhere there are mountains, the rock ptarmigan will be there.  The ptarmigan lives on the ground, and like our subject from a few weeks ago, the common redpoll, burrows into the snow for warmth.  This bird has some really remarkable camouflage, especially in the summer months.  In the winter it molts and wears all white, which is undoubtedly useful, but much less striking. The ptarmigan gains very little weight over the winter, as it does not hibernate and keeps foraging all year round.  Most species of this bird will accumulate no more than two days worth of emergency fat reserves.  The svalbard rock ptarmigan, found in Norway, is able to accumulate fat to keep it going for up to ten days in an emergency.  I don’t know which is is chicken and which the egg, so to speak, but what little extra weight the bird is able to accumulate does not impact its ability to forage as it has so little margin for error.  Does it accumulate little fat so it can keep foraging, or does it keep foraging because it accumulates so little fat?  Who can say, certainly not I.  

It is hunted to a limited degree in Iceland, although this is allowed only on certain days, the days are reviewed every year, and all sales of the bird are illegal.  Finally, our new friend seems to have a  fair amount of cultural cachet, since: “It is the official bird for the Canadian territory of Nunavut,^[4] where it is known as the aqiggiq (ᐊᕿᒡᒋᖅ), and the official game bird for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.^[5] In Japan, it is known as the raichō (雷鳥), which means “thunder bird”. It is the official bird of Gifu, Nagano, and Toyama Prefectures^[6] and is a protected species nationwide.”  

Links: http://tinyurl.com/5n6dvr72, http://tinyurl.com/bdexwr24,  http://tinyurl.com/d36zudth, http://tinyurl.com/np378z9z