pierrejoste89
Colors of the mountains - Rock Ptarmigan
Lagopus muta muta (nominate, french name : Lagopède alpin) - Around Mont de Grange, Upper-Savoy, France
This species being tight to cold climates, it is in the high mountains that it lives all year round in France, over 2000 masl, and it is where I came to find him, around the magnificent Mont de Grange, maybe the wildest mountain around my home.
I had met this bird in this place two years ago, when I was not using a camera, so I came back with a good hope that they might be resident and still here, and thus take a picture.
Indeed two of them were there, feeding on a slope mixing grass and rocks lanslides, its prefered habitat, that compose the background of the picture. They first gave clue of their presence by the so peculiar song, described as "that of a stick being pulled rapidly across the slats of a picket fence", a sort of strange rattle. Then one showed up near the trail, and stay standing a long time, for the best sight I could expect.
This species has the particularity of moulting three times a year, so that it is perfectly camouflaged all year round according to the seasons and the changing colors in its environment. Also, the red comb above the eye is more or less swollen by a blood supply controlled by the bird. During my observation, the size of the eyebrow varied greatly, and was sometimes much more visible than when I took the photo.
The male is completly white during winter when snow covers everything, only the comb remains red, and here it is the breeding plumage. Another adaptation to its life in the snow is found in its tarsi, which are covered with feathers.
It is a fantastic bird, and we enjoy to be close to some individuals during a hike in the most preserved mountains.
Colors of the mountains - Rock Ptarmigan
Lagopus muta muta (nominate, french name : Lagopède alpin) - Around Mont de Grange, Upper-Savoy, France
This species being tight to cold climates, it is in the high mountains that it lives all year round in France, over 2000 masl, and it is where I came to find him, around the magnificent Mont de Grange, maybe the wildest mountain around my home.
I had met this bird in this place two years ago, when I was not using a camera, so I came back with a good hope that they might be resident and still here, and thus take a picture.
Indeed two of them were there, feeding on a slope mixing grass and rocks lanslides, its prefered habitat, that compose the background of the picture. They first gave clue of their presence by the so peculiar song, described as "that of a stick being pulled rapidly across the slats of a picket fence", a sort of strange rattle. Then one showed up near the trail, and stay standing a long time, for the best sight I could expect.
This species has the particularity of moulting three times a year, so that it is perfectly camouflaged all year round according to the seasons and the changing colors in its environment. Also, the red comb above the eye is more or less swollen by a blood supply controlled by the bird. During my observation, the size of the eyebrow varied greatly, and was sometimes much more visible than when I took the photo.
The male is completly white during winter when snow covers everything, only the comb remains red, and here it is the breeding plumage. Another adaptation to its life in the snow is found in its tarsi, which are covered with feathers.
It is a fantastic bird, and we enjoy to be close to some individuals during a hike in the most preserved mountains.