On Fri, 6 Jan 1995, Eugene Hunn wrote:

> 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.
>
Gene--

I don't know of any records of Willow Ptarmigan for the Vernon area or
from anywhere near the Okanagan. They do come down the Canadian Rockies
quite a bit; I've seen them in Mt. Robson Provincial Park. The farthest
south they get on the Coast Mountains is Red Mtn. in the southern
Chilcotin. I suspect Rock Ptarmigan winter fairly regularly on the North
Shore Mountains behind Vancouver, but access is difficult.

The Rock Ptarmigans in the ad were on Mt. Steele on the Sechelt
Peninsula. I haven't heard from Tony Greenfield recently whether they
still see them there. When I went up with him we saw a brood of young,
but that was a few years ago.

Richard J. Cannings cannings at bcu.ubc.ca
Cowan Vertebrate Museum vertmus at bcu.ubc.ca
Department of Zoology, (604)822-4665
University of British Columbia (604)822-2416 (FAX)
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 CANADA