Here are some empty mountainsides.

If it wasn’t for the movement I probably wouldn’t have seen these ptarmigan right in front of me. The first one was in a group of five and they were VERY busy getting calories to keep themselves warm. The second was on the same trip, but at a lower elevation – this flock had not changed as many feathers to white yet. The third I saw when the chicks were taking dust baths: shaking their feathers and sending little plumes of dust up into the air.

Way up in the tundra near MacKay Lake they were much easier to see but we usually heard them first. Sometimes ptarmigan are silent, but when they’re talkative it’s great! I don’t have a recording, but here’s one from Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://zcu.io/HODg

Fun fact: It takes ptarmigan about 3 weeks to change from their brown summer plumage to their white winter feathers.

Although they can fly, they often walk – in winter they need really good insulation on their feet. When it gets really cold, they will bury themselves in snow to stay warm. I’ve seen places where ptarmigan have dive-bombed the snow to bury themselves, have a nap right there, and then when they wake up, they poke their head up and walk away.