Diet
This herbivorous bird's diet varies seasonally. Nitrogen-rich snow buttercup leaves are favored in the spring season, while willow catkins, alpine avens flowers, and chickweed blooms form the majority of the ptarmigan's diet in the summer. Once fall and winter arrive to the region, the ptarmigan prefers seeds, willow buds and twigs. Winter food sources have a much higher cellulose content than summer forage, so the ptarmigan relies on bacteria-aided digestion in the cecum to extract essential nutrients.
Ptarmigan chicks begin their lives eating insects. Once the chicks' digestive tracts and ceca are more fully developed, their diets shift to one of flowers and leaves. Hens choose foraging patches where plant species containing proteins are abundant. The hens call their chicks to these plants, which are critical for the growth and development of the chicks. This suggests that the hens' food calls assist in enhancing survival rates of juvenile ptarmigans.
Read more about this topic: White-tailed Ptarmigan
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