Yesterday Valerie Weber and I hiked out of Paradise in
search of ptarmigans and spectacular views... we found
both. At 6:45 am we took the Golden Gate Trail from
the Paradise Inn. Near the junction with the Skyline
Trail were 3 Blue Grouse. Just after taking a left on
the Skyline Trail, we carefully made our way on to the
snow field that is just off the right side of the
trail. We crossed the snow to the far upper end where
the stream runs under the snow and scanned upstream.
Eventually a couple of rocks just below the waterfall
turned into White-tailed Ptarmigans. It was a
somewhat distant view, but a lifer view nevertheless.

We continued via the (lower) Skyline Trail to the big
rocky overlook that is just before the big snowfield
that is just east of Panorama Point. As we sat eating
breakfast, two juvenile Rosy-Finches literally hopped
on us looking for fallen crumbs.

We looked among the snowfields and streams where
ptarmigans had been reported, but found none there.
We ran into another birder (Walt ?) who was on his way
to Camp Muir, but decided to go back and look for the
ptarmigans where we had seen them earlier. Near the
Golden Gate, we went back on to the snow field again.
Around 9:15, as we stood on the snow's edge near the
stream, 5 ptarmigans ambled down to within 10 feet of
us! We watched for about a half hour as they browsed,
hopped on and off of the snow, and hunkered down below
the lip of the snow.

I think all 5 were adult males, but I'm not sure. Two
of them fit the Sibley breeding male picture, with
extensive white below, in the primaries and in the
outer tail; black spotting along the sides of the
breast; red combs above the eyes; back appearing
mottled with individually different colored feathers,
not barred overall.

The other 3 were similar except: the inner tail
feathers were grayer and not full length; the back
feathers were grayer, lacking the rich browns of the
other two; the red eye combs were not visible, except
for a brief time on one of them; the black spotting
along the sides of the breast was not prominent. None
of them looked like the "fall" Sibley picture, as the
white on the breast was quite extensive and overall
they were not that gray.

Any feedback on aging, sexing, and molt descriptions
for these birds would be appreciated. Maybe the
latter 3 were males early in a fall molt? Do white
tails rule out juveniles? Does lack of barring,
spotting or "yellowish" on the breast rule out
females? Do adults molt three times per year?

Tom Rohrer
Renton, WA
mailto: texasbirdboy at yahoo.com



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Tom Rohrer
Renton, WA
mailto: texasbirdboy at yahoo.com



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