Lagopus muta
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
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 |
No species of the same family or order lives in Svalbard, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Rock Ptarmigan sighting in Svalbard on a given day, based on 376 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 21st most-seen of the 48 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and March
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Rock Ptarmigan in Svalbard on a given day, against about 10% in July to September, the lowest months. November to January have 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.
Among the best
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Rock Ptarmigan sightings, Svalbard ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Vatnajokull National Park (Iceland, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rock Ptarmigan is recorded against all the birds logged in Svalbard (376 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.
