Lagopus lagopus

Willow Ptarmigan, with 17 subspecies, is a medium-sized bird in the grouse family.

Willow Ptarmigan likes to move in the woods and sometimes in farmland. Except for the breeding season, they mostly move in groups, and in winter there can be more than a hundred. The range of activities is wide, and they will migrate long distances in winter. As a result of living in the ice and snow for a long time, the willow ptarmigan has developed a series of characteristics that adapt to the frozen habitat, such as thick and long hair on the legs, covering all the way to the toes; there are many long hairs around the spurs, which not only keep warm, but also facilitate walking on the snow without sinking; the feathers outside the nostrils can withstand the Arctic storms and are also conducive to pecking food under the snow. The willow ptarmigan has a thick and short beak, is good at digging for roots and stems under the snow, and almost entirely eats plant food. The willow ptarmigan molts in four seasons. After marriage and before winter, the male bird completely replaces the summer and winter feathers with new feathers, while the spring and autumn feathers are only partially replaced; the female bird molts three times a year, and does not molt before marriage. The winter feathers of the willow ptarmigan are consistent with the silver dress of the earth, and both males and females are snow-white. In spring, the head, neck and chest of the male bird are also replaced with spring feathers with chestnut brown horizontal stripes. Male birds also have the habit of changing "nuptial feathers" before breeding, using gorgeous feathers to win the favor of female birds. In summer, the upper body of the willow ptarmigan changes to dark brown with brownish-yellow stripes. In autumn, when the vegetation turns yellow, the feathers change to yellow chestnut.

The willow ptarmigan is a typical herbivorous bird and rarely eats insects. But the plants it eats also change with the seasons. In winter and early spring, it eats plant buds and microtwigs, in summer, it eats green leaves, and in late summer and autumn, it eats grass seeds and berries. The plants are mainly birch, poplar, willow, etc.

The willow ptarmigan is in heat between April and May. The breeding season of the willow ptarmigan is from May to July. When in heat, its posture is very similar to that of a domestic chicken, with its tail raised and spread out, flapping its wings, and its call is like that of a domestic chicken, mostly calling in the early morning and evening. When looking for a mate, male birds often fight to protect their nesting area or for female birds, pecking each other's necks and heads. Before mating, the male bird will show off and make courtship calls in the territory it occupies to attract the female bird to mate. The nest is placed in the grass on the ground. It is a simple oval depression with a small amount of dead branches, grass leaves, leaves, and residual feathers. There are about 7 eggs in a nest. The eggs are pear-shaped, weigh 3 grams, and are 45×32 mm in size. The eggs are light yellow with light cinnamon and brown spots of varying sizes.

In winter, willow ptarmigans will change into white feathers that are exactly the same as ice and snow. Once they find their natural enemies, they will lie still on the snow and blend into the background, achieving the effect of "invisibility" to avoid the eyes of their natural enemies. When the danger is over, they will stand on the branches of the willow tree again, feeding on the winter buds of the willow tree in the warm sunshine.

Listed in the "Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union" (IUCN) 2016 ver 3.1-Least Concern (LC).

Listed in the second level of the "List of National Key Protected Wildlife in China".

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The world is distributed in northern North America and northern Eurasia, including Belarus, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, the Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In China, it is only found in the Heilongjiang River Basin. It is widely distributed in the world, from northern North America to the forest belt and forest-steppe belt of the entire northern Eurasia, and even in the tundra.
The willow ptarmigan lives in the tundra zone, tundra shrub forest and rocky meadow zone near the Arctic, and is very cold-resistant. It likes to move in the woods and sometimes in farmland. Except for the breeding season, most of them move in groups, and in winter there can be more than a hundred. The range of activities is wide, and they will migrate long distances in winter. The willow ptarmigan is a typical cold-zone bird. The habitat changes with the seasons. In summ

The male bird is longer and heavier than the female bird. The adult male bird has gorgeous plumage, with a black forehead and bright red skin on the cheeks; the top of the head and neck are light brown, and the chin, throat and neck feathers are dark green; the ear feathers are black with a blue-green metallic luster; there is a white neck ring under the neck, so it is named "willow ptarmigan". The body feathers of the willow ptarmigan change with the seasons.
Size measurement: weight ♂450-815 grams, ♀400-700 grams; body length ♂380-410 mm; bill peak ♂10.5-12.2 mm, ♀10-12 mm; wings ♂196-220 mm, ♀193-215 mm. (Note: ♂male; ♀female)