Lagopus muta
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) is a medium-sized game bird in the grouse tribe. It is known simply as the ptarmigan in Europe. It is the official bird for the Canadian territory of Nunavut, where it is known as the aqiggiq (ᐊᕿᒡᒋᖅ), and the official game bird for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In Japan, it is known as the raichō (雷鳥), which means "thunder bird"; it is the official bird of Gifu, Nagano, and Toyama Prefectures and is a protected species nationwide.
The ptarmigan's genus name, Lagopus, is derived from Ancient Greek lagos (λαγώς lagṓs), meaning "hare", + pous (πούς poús), "foot", in reference to the bird's feathered legs. The species name, muta, comes from Neo-Latin and means "mute", referring to the simple croaking song of the male. It was for a long time misspelt mutus, in the erroneous belief that the ending of Lagopus denotes masculine gender. However, as the Ancient Greek term λαγώπους lagṓpous is of feminine gender, and the species name has to agree with that, the feminine muta is correct.
The word ptarmigan comes from the Gaelic tarmachan, meaning croaker. The p- was added due to a mistaken belief in a Greek origin, as if the word were... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vatnajokull National Park | 🇮🇸 Iceland | |
| 2 | Svalbard | 🇳🇴 Norway | |
| 3 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 7 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ueno Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 2 | Ueno Zoological Gardens (West Garden) | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 3 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 4 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Adachi Park of Living Things | 🇯🇵 Japan |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rock Ptarmigan sighting in Denali National Park on a given day, based on 52 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 56th most-seen of the 113 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rock Ptarmigan in Denali National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August, October and December–June, the lowest months. Those are among Denali National Park's wettest months, with about 140 mm of rain a month against 45 mm in April. November has too few records to rate.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rock Ptarmigan sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Rock Ptarmigan sightings, Denali National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Vatnajokull National Park (Iceland, about 20%), Svalbard (Norway, about 20%) and Cairngorms National Park (United Kingdom, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rock Ptarmigan is recorded against all the birds logged in Denali National Park (52 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
