Anyone hiking in Spitsbergen has a good chance of stumbling over a Rock ptarmigan, that suddenly flies up. The birds rely on their good camouflage and usually fly up noisily at the last moment.
Male Rock ptarmigan in winter.
Description: The Rock ptarmigan is 35-40 cm long and 490-1200 g in weight. Rock ptarmigans moult three times a year. White during the winter, brownish summer plumage. The male always has a red stripe above the eye.
Distribution / Migration: The Rock ptarmigan can be found in most areas in the arctic. The subspecies L.m.hyperborea is only found in Svalbard and Franz Josef Land. In Svalbard, the ptarmigan occurs everywhere except the northeasternmost parts of the archipelago. It is the only bird that remains on land during the whole year and does not migrate to open water or southwards.
Biology: The rock ptarmigan lives of vegetation; the exact composition of the diet changes with the seasons. The male occupies the breeding territory as early as mid March. This is often a steep, rocky slope, where some vegetation is still available. Mating takes place in May and egg laying (nine to eleven eggs) in early or mid May, depending on the timing of the snow melt. The female sits for three weeks.
Rock ptarmigan (female in the front).
Miscellaneous: The size of the population in Svalbard is not known, but ptarmigan are quite abundant. In suitable terrain, there may be three to five males with one or two hens each per square kilometre. In Spitsbergen, ptarmigan are hunted by locals in autumn and early winter.
The scientific name used to be Lagopus mutus, but it has recently been changed into Lagopus muta, because lagopus is derived from an ancient Greek word of feminine gender, which indicates “hare foot”.
Moulting male Rock ptarmigan, also called Svalbard ptarmigan.
This and other publishing products of the Spitsbergen publishing house in the Spitsbergen-Shop.
Norwegens arktischer Norden (1): Spitzbergen
Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German. [shop url="https://shop.spitzbergen.de/en/polar-books/70-norwegens-arktischer-norden-1-aerial-arctic-9783937903262.html"] ← Back
Lofoten, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen from the air - Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German, but there is very little text, so I am sure that you will enjoy it regardless which languages you read (or not).
The companion book for the Svalbardhytter poster. The poster visualises the diversity of Spitsbergen‘s huts and their stories in a range of Arctic landscapes. The book tells the stories of the huts in three languages.
Comprehensive guidebook about Spitsbergen. Background (wildlife, plants, geology, history etc.), practical information including travelling seasons, how to travel, description of settlements, routes and regions.
Join an exciting journey with dog, skis and tent through the wintery wastes of East Greenland! We were five guys and a dog when we started in Ittoqqortoormiit, the northernmost one of two settlements on Greenland’s east coast.
12 postcards which come in a beautifully designed tray. Beautiful images from South Georgia across Antarctica from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea and up to Macquarie Island and Campbell Island.