is there a bird called a ptarmigan?

Answer 1

Yup.
The Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta or mutus, is a small (31–35 cm long) bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, breeding across arctic and subarctic Eurasia and North America (including Greenland) on rocky mountainsides and tundra. There are isolated populations in the mountains of Scotland, the Pyrenees, the Alps, Bulgaria, the Urals, the Pamir Mountains, the Altay Mountains, and Japan.

In North America it is called the Rock Ptarmigan, or colloquially Snow Chicken. This is the official bird for the territory of Nunavut, Canada.

Breeding males have greyish upperparts with white wings and underparts. In winter, plumage becomes completely white except for the black tail. They can be distinguished from the winter Willow Grouse (Willow Ptarmigan in North America) by habitat- Rock Ptarmigan/Ptarmigan prefer higher elevations and more barren habitat than Willow Ptarmigan/Willow Grouse. Rock Ptarmigan/Ptarmigan are also smaller in size, and have a more delicate bill.

The male's song is a loud croaking.

Ptarmigan feed primarily on birch and willow buds and catkins when available. They will also take various seeds,leaves, flowers and berries of other plant species. Insects are also taken by the developing young.

The ptarmigan is capable of camouflaging itself by changing the color of its feathers to blend with its surroundings. The feathers can be white in winter or brown in spring or summer.

The word ptarmigan comes from the Scottish Gaelic tàrmachan, which may be related to torm "murmur". The silent initial p was added in the 17th century through the influence of Greek, especially pteron, Greek for "wing".

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Scientific name
The Ptarmigan's genus name, Lagopus comes from the Greek lagos, meaning "hare", and pus, meaning foot. It refers to the bird's feathered legs. The species name mutus comes from Latin and means "mute", referring to the loud croaking song of the male.

Answer 2

The White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus) is the smallest bird in the grouse family. It is found in the mountains of western United States and Canada

Answer 3

Ptarmigan are small chicken-like birds which live year round in the arctic lands

Answer 4

I am a birder and yes there is a species of bird called a ptarmigan.

Answer 5

yes and its the state bird of alaska. theres a town in alaska that was going to be called ptarmigan but no one knew how to spell it so they called it chicken. its not a seabird at all!

Answer 6

actually there is a bird called Ptarmigan
heres info about Ptarmigan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptarmigan

Answer 7

yuppers If you go to your Yahoo search window & put the word ptarmigan in there and hit enter it will pull up a bunch of different pics of em...pretty little things

Answer 8

Yes, a member of the grouse family. They are found in moorland and mountainous areas of Scotland. Plumage changes to white in winter so that they are camouflaged when there is snow around

Answer 9

Yes, there are 3 species found in N. America (in alaska and canada): Rock, Willow, and White-tailed. I saw the first two species when up in Alaska. They are grouse like if you are familiar with them.

Answer 10

Not sure about the spelling - thought there was a g in there but it is a native bird to Scotland I think. - Lives on the upland moors