Alaska State Bird
Willow Ptarmigan

Official Alaska State Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
Family: Phasianidae, Partridges, Grouse, Turkeys
Scientific name: Lagopus lagopus
Length: 15" (38cm)
Voice: Listen to Willow Ptarmigan calls
(recorded by Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Male in display gives comical, nasal barking calls in series goBEK goBEK, poDAYdo poDAYdo... and a smoothly accelerating laugh. Females gives barking dyow; both sexes give clucking notes.
Diet: Vegetation, seeds, berries, insects; leaves, flower buds, and twigs of willows, birches, and alders. Young feed on insects, many spiders, little vegetation.
Habitat: Tundra, willow scrub, muskeg; in winter, sheltered valleys at lower altitudes
Displays: Courting males call and strut, red combs over eyes swollen, head thrown back, tail raised and spread, wings drooped; followed by flight display with descending spiral.
Number of broods: 1
Nest: Often exposed in tundra; shallow depression lined with leaves, grass, few feathers.
Eggs: 5-14 bright red when laid, but wet red pigment is usually rubbed off in places, dries blackish-brown, rubbed areas show creamy, rarely reddish, ground color; 1.7" (43mm).
Incubation period: 21-22 days
Fledge: 10-12 days after hatching
Longevity Record: no data according to USGS Bird Banding Lab

The Alaska State Bird, the Willow Ptarmigan, was adopted by the Territorial Legislature in 1955. It is a small arctic grouse that lives among willows and on open tundra and muskeg. Plumage is brown in summer, changing to white in winter. The Willow Ptarmigan is common in much of Alaska.

Alaska State Bird Books