Lagopède des saules— species and hunting in Quebec

The willow ptarmigan ( TAR-mi-gən; Lagopus lagopus) is a bird in the grouse tribe Tetraonini of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse. The willow ptarmigan breeds in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, and Canada, in particular in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. It is the state bird of Alaska. In the summer, the birds are largely brown, with dappled plumage, while in the winter, they are white with some black feathers in their tails. The species has remained little changed from the bird that roamed the tundra during the Pleistocene. Nesting takes place in the spring when clutches of four to 10 eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground. The chicks are precocial, so soon leave the nest. While they are young, both parents play a part in caring for them. The chicks eat insects and young plant growth, while the adults are completely herbivorous, eating leaves, flowers, buds, seeds, and berries during the summer and largely subsisting on the buds and twigs of willow and other dwarf shrubs and trees during the winter.

Description

The willow ptarmigan is a medium to large, ground-dwelling bird and is the most numerous of the three species of ptarmigan. Males and females are about the same size, with the adult length varying between 35 and 44 cm (14 and 17 in) with a wingspan ranging from 60 to 65 cm (24 to 26 in). Its weight is 430 to 810 g (15 to 29 oz). It is deep-chested and has a fairly long neck, a broad bill, short, feathered legs, and a moderately short, rounded tail. In the summer, the male's plumage is marbled brown, with a reddish hue to the neck and breast, a black tail, and white wings and underparts. It has red, semicircular combs above the eyes, which become red and prominent in the breeding season. The female is similar in appearance, but with much smaller eye combs and has brown feathers scattered among the white feathers on her belly. During winter, the body plumage and two central tail feathers of both sexes becomes completely white, except for the black outer rectrices. Their wing feathers remain white all year round. Immature birds resemble the adults. The willow ptarmigan can be distinguished from the closely related rock ptarmigan (L. muta) by its larger size and thicker bill and because it is not generally found above the tree line, while the rock ptarmigan prefers more elevated, barren habitat. The summer plumage is browner, and in the winter, the male willow ptarmigan lacks the rock ptarmigan's black stripe between the eyes and bill. The white-tailed ptarmigan (L. leucura) in North America is smaller, has a white tail and finely-barred greyer plumage, and lives permanently above the tree line. The distinctive red grouse of the British Isles was once considered to be a subspecies. This moorland bird is reddish brown all over, except for its white feet.