In the spirit of recent Washington ptarmigan chatter, hopefully we won't
have to worry about our alpine bound White-tailed Ptarmigans doing this...,
but who knows, seems like anything's possible any more. So, here's an
interesting published note from Alaska about sea-going Willow Ptarmigans,
...not just one nutty stray wandering slightly off the beach, but a whole
'gathering', a really BIG gathering (~125), out wandering 8-15km OFFSHORE,
landing on the boat, landing on the water, and who knows where they all ended up.

_http://www.avibirds.com/pdf/M/Moerassneeuwhoen10.pdf_
(http://www.avibirds.com/pdf/M/Moerassneeuwhoen10.pdf)

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA