High Country Bird Spotlight: White-tailed Ptarmigan & Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

IPWA
14 hours ago
2 min read

By Rob Pudim and Kelly Prendergast

How do they do it?

Two other popular year round residents in the Indian Peaks include the White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus) and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula). Take a closer look at these high country locals so you can spot them on your next outing... maybe even this winter.

The White-Tailed Ptarmigan

White-tailed Ptarmigan primarily live in North America's high-elevation alpine regions. They inhabit tundra, rocky slopes (talus/scree), and meadows above the tree line, moving slightly downslope in winter to access willows and alders, making them the only North American ptarmigan to live year-round above timberline.

Watch this video to see the White Tailed Ptarmigan in its winter plumage.

Ptarmigan Fun Facts:

During winter snows, alpine willows catch the snow and create a roof over the wetland. Ptarmigans camp under the roof and munch on willow buds and leaves.
Ptarmigans share their snow camp with mice, pocket gophers, voles, snowshoe hares, mountain cottontail rabbits and ermine.
Hey, can Ptarmigan Fly? Ptarmigans spend most of their life on the ground but they are able to fly.
With excellent feather camouflage in summer and winter, these Ptarmigan are masters of blending in with their surroundings.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

This kinglet is a small flycatcher with a ruby crown that is not easily seen. It perches on Englemann Spruce branches watching for flying bugs. It stays warm in Colorado during winter months by puffing up its feathers, clustering with other kinglets to stay warm and eating bugs, seeds and berries.

Ruby Crowned Kinglet Fun Facts:

Kinglets are only found in North America and consist of two species: the Ruby-crowned Kinglet and the Golden-crowned Kinglet
Although the tiniest of birds, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet can lay up to 12 eggs in a nest. With each egg weighing about a fiftieth of an ounce, the total clutch of eggs weighs about as much as the female bird.
A typical diet consists of aphids, wasps, crickets, springtails, bark beetles and spiders. They will also eat seeds and berries in the winter.

Bonus Bird: The Brown Capped Rosy Finch

There are 3 types of Rosy Finch in the United States. The Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (BCRF) is the rosy-finch with the most restricted range (Colorado and northern New Mexico). Look for a milk-chocolate brown body with pink highlights in the wings, tail, belly, and a grayish-brown crown.

Brown Capped Rosy Finch Fun Facts:

They foraging openly on alpine snowfields.
During winter, BCRF’s congregate in mixed flocks with other rosy-finches feeding on seeds and insects.
They breed at very high elevations but descend to slightly lower elevations in winter.

Naturalist column exploring high country flora, fauna and geography

IPWA volunteers are often asked by visitors not just about the trails, but about what they are seeing in the Indian Peaks and James Peak Wilderness Areas. This column will cover some of the plants, animals and geographic features that hikers, anglers and backpackers may come across in these areas.

About Rob Pudim

A long time Boulder resident, Rob describes himself as “a coal-miner's son from Pennsylvania, a "fallen" scientist (Chemistry, Rutgers University and Microbiology, Tulane University) an editorial cartoonist, an amateur lepidopterist, a Native Plant Master, and a long-time birder”. His affiliation with IPWA goes back to its founding in the 1980s.