David,

I believe the ad in question was for Rock Ptarmigans, a population of
which was said to exist in the coast range within 100 miles north of
Vancouver or less, perhaps near Whistler ski resort? Willow Ptarmigans
are know to occur near Vernon, B. C., about 75 miles north of our border
in the interior. There's one winter record of a Willow Ptarmigan for
Glacier National Park, Montana. There are also some odd winter Rock
Ptarmigan reports for Vancouver, B.C., even White Rock just north of
Blaine. Some suspect they were escapes but that seems a strange
possibility. Wish I knew more details, but I suspect low elevation
winter stragglers near Washington's northern border could be any one of
the three species with about equal likelihood.

Gene Hunn.

On Fri, 6 Jan 1995, D. Goble wrote:

>
> The thread on Ptarmigans prompted the memory that "Winging It" -- the
> ABA's newsletter -- used to run a small advertisement in the back from
> someone who had found a reliable population of Willow Ptarmigan within an
> hour of Vancouver, B.C. (If I remember the details correctly.) The ad
> has not been run for a couple of years. It was always one of those
> things that prompted my curiousity.
>
> Does anyone have directions?
>
>
> Dale Goble
> Moscow, Idaho
> gobled at raven.csrv.uidaho.edu
>
>