Rob,
You are extremely ptarmigan lucky. I wouldn't call them rare; they are fairly widespread in alpine areas, but detection rates are low. Alan Grenon, who was with me yesterday, spent three summers working as a park naturalist at Paradise and only saw them twice.

Mike Donahue
Seattle
----- Original Message -----
From: Rob Sandelin
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 8:02 PM
Subject: Have ptarmigan at Paradise become rare?


This recent spate of sightings of this birds makes me wonder if I have missed something. I have seen Ptarmigans at this location since I was ten years old, and I can't recall a recent summer trip where I did not see them. So I have always considered them commonplace at this location. Kind of like marmots, I would be surprised to hike around Paradise and NOT see them. Or maybe I am just Ptarmigan lucky? Have they become unusual? Going up tomorrow to teach a 3 day alpine ecology class and of course, now that I've mentioned it, I will probably jinx myself and not see one again for years.....

Rob Sandelin
South Snohomish County at the headwaters of Ricci Creek
Sky Valley Environments <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
Field skills training for student naturalists
Floriferous at msn.com