Ptarmigan is a beautiful bird that inhabits the Northern Hemisphere, whose climate zone is known for its harsh living conditions. Its meat is tasty and nutritious, which is why it is often hunted at certain times of the year. A photo and description of the white partridge are further presented in this article.
Habitat
Traditionally, partridge with white plumage is a bird of cold latitudes, which are characterized by a large amount of rainfall and long, harsh winters. For her, the taiga, tundra and forest-tundra zones are considered her home. She prefers to settle in swamps, where there is a lot of peat and moss.
Ptarmigan lives in North America, Eurasia and Greenland. It can also be found in the marshlands of Scotland and England. As for the territory of Russia, here she lives on Sakhalin and Kamchatka.
Description
Partridge is a small bird, body length varies from 33 to 40 cm, weight - not more than 700 g. The male is always slightly larger than the female. Belongs to the grouse family and belongs to the chicken order. The partridge’s neck is short and the head is small. The beak is small, strong, bent down. The bird has short legs, covered with thick down, which protects it well from extreme cold.
Claws are very sharp. The partridge is able to break even ice crusts with them to get food, as well as dig holes. Her wings are small and rounded, so she flies only in rare cases.
Partridge in winter and summer
This bird changes its color several times a year, but in any case it looks wonderful. In winter, the plumage of the partridge is snow-white, but very often the outer feathers of the tail remain black. Her legs also attract attention. They are furry and densely dotted with a short white feather. This color helps to merge with the environment, which helps the bird not only to disguise itself, but also to survive in such difficult natural conditions.
With the onset of spring on the plumage of partridges, blotches of yellow and brown colors begin to appear, and their eyebrows turn red. So, by the beginning of summer, the bird acquires a colorful color, although the lower part of the body remains all the same snow-white. With the onset of heat, it will become completely brown or brown. Only feathers, legs, and abdomen remain lighter. The female begins to change her winter decoration before the male. The plumage of her is much lighter, therefore, from far away you can determine the gender of the bird.
Lifestyle
Partridges knock together in small flocks of 10-15 individuals and form pairs only during the breeding season. These birds lead a land-based lifestyle. Due to its color, it is easily masked. They are awake during the day, and at night they hide in dense vegetation. Partridges fly very rarely, and even then only over short distances. The main way to move it is to run fast.
This bird is very careful. Seeking food for herself, she moves carefully and almost silently, looking around from time to time. Having sensed danger, it first freezes, letting its adversary closer, and then suddenly takes off sharply. Before the flight, birds gather in large flocks, which can consist of 200-300 individuals.
Food
The partridge flies quite rarely, which is why it seeks food for itself on the ground. The basis of its diet is various shrubby vegetation. For their nesting birds most often choose the hummocky tundra areas where willow, dwarf birch and berry grow mainly. These birds settled only in the southern regions, partridges from the northern regions also fly there to winter.
In winter, they live in the thickness of snow, making special chambers filled with air in it. In order to feed themselves, birds have to make moves. In winter, they eat buds and shoots of trees and shrubs. They especially like willow, growing near lakes, as well as shoots of dwarf birches. In summer, they feed on leaves, berries, seeds and insects. The latter make up no more than 3% of the total amount of food. Of the berries, blueberries, cranberries, hawthorn and blueberries are preferred.
The diet of the bird is mainly low-calorie, so she eats a lot, filling a huge goiter. For better digestion of hard food, birds have to swallow small stones.
Mating season
When spring comes, the male transforms: his head and neck change color and turn red-brown. During the breeding season, a bird can be recognized by its clear, sharp sounds. They are accompanied by peculiar “dances”, which are complemented by flapping and loud flapping of wings. The partridge male becomes aggressive and often rushes into a fight at his own kindred, who dared to violate its territory.
The behavior of the female is also changing. If earlier representatives of the opposite sex were of little interest to her, now she is trying to find a mate. Mating, the female alone begins to build a nest. A place is usually chosen somewhere under a hummock hiding in shrubs or among other tall plants. There she digs a hole, and then lines it with her feathers, branches, leaves and stems of plants nearby.
The grouse begins to lay eggs no earlier than at the end of May. Usually they are painted in a pale yellow color with mottled dots available on them. One female is able to lay about 8-10 eggs. The hatching process is quite lengthy and lasts at least 20 days. Only the female is engaged in this, without departing from the nest for even a minute. The male also protects his girlfriend and future chicks.
Brood care
Although partridges are considered herbivorous birds, in the early days of offspring they are fed exclusively by bugs, worms, spiders and flies, since newborn chicks need animal protein. To protect his brood from possible dangers, he is taken to a more reliable place. When the slightest threat occurs, the kids hide in dense greenery and freeze.
Both parents take care of the chicks until they reach the age of two months. Partridge puberty occurs one year after birth.
The life expectancy of a bird with white plumage is small and ranges from only four to seven years.
