Willow grouse

The willow grouse (Europe) or willow ptarmigan (North America) (Lagopus lagopus) is a medium-to-large (15–17 inches) gamebird in the grouse family, from the Arctic. It is a sedentary species, breeding in birch and other forests and tundra across northern Eurasia, and in Alaska and northern Canada. Feathers are brown in summer, changing to white in winter. It is the state bird of Alaska. During the last ice age, the species occurred in continental Europe (Tomek & Bocheński 2005).

Willow Grouse
Lagopus lagopus alascensis in autumn plumage, Lake Clark National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Galliformes
Family:
Tetraonidae
Genus:
Lagopus
Species:
L. lagopus
Binomial name
Lagopus lagopus
Subspecies

some 10-20 including

  • L. l. lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758)
    Scandinavian Willow Grouse
  • L. l. scoticus (Latham, 1787)
    Red Grouse
  • L. l. alascensis (Swarth, 1926)
    Alaskan Willow Ptarmigan
  • L. l. variegatus (Salomonsen, 1936)
    Trondheimsfjord Willow Grouse
Synonyms
  • Tetrao lagopus Linnaeus, 1758
Lagopus lagopus lagopus

References
  • "Willow Ptarmigan Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2020-08-09.


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