Breeding adult female. Photo: Hacob W. Frank/NPS/Flickr (CC-BY-Public-Domain)
Lagopus muta
| Conservation status | May become locally scarce near Arctic settlements, but still very common over vast areas of northern wilderness. |
|---|---|
| Family | Pheasants and Grouse |
| Habitat | Above timberline in mountains; bleak tundra of northern coasts. Summers on relatively dry, open tundra, with rock outcrops and arid ridges mixed with areas of dwarf willow and birch, sedge meadows. On islands (such as Aleutians), may occupy all open habitats. In winter, many remain in summer habitat, but some move into shrubby areas, openings in northern forest. |
Forages while walking by picking rapidly at vegetation, nipping off food with bill. In winter, may sometimes follow herds of caribou or musk-ox, feeding where animals have scraped away the snow.
4-13, usually 7-9. Pale buff with brown spots. Incubation is by female only, usually about 21 days; begins after laying next to last egg. Young: Downy chicks leave nest with adult female within a day after hatching. Female tends young, but young feed themselves. Capable of short flights at 7-10 days, can fly fairly well at 10-15 days. Young are independent at age of about 10-12 weeks.
Downy chicks leave nest with adult female within a day after hatching. Female tends young, but young feed themselves. Capable of short flights at 7-10 days, can fly fairly well at 10-15 days. Young are independent at age of about 10-12 weeks.
Mostly buds, leaves, and seeds. Adults are almost entirely vegetarian, feeding on buds, catkins, leaves, flowers, berries, and seeds. Major food sources include willow, dwarf birch, alder, saxifrage, crowberry. Also eats some insects, spiders, snails; young chicks feed on these items heavily at first. Regularly swallows grit to help with digesting rough plant material.
Male defends territory in spring with conspicuous display flight: flaps very rapidly, glides high, then flutters to ground while giving staccato call. In courtship display, male raises red combs above eyes, fans tail, and walks in circles around female, dragging one wing on ground. Nest site is on ground in relatively barren, rocky area, usually near large rock. Nest (built mostly by female) is shallow depression, lined with small amounts of moss, lichen, grass, feathers.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
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