Figure 1 Male Svalbard ptarmigan looking out across the unique Svalbard landscape.
Bob Van Oort
Rock ptarmigan belong to the group of birds that live on the ground. The group also includes turkey, chicken, quail, grouse and pheasant. Rock ptarmigan live in the alpine regions of the northern hemisphere and a sub-species of these birds — the Svalbard rock ptarmigan (see Figure 1) — is found only on the High Arctic islands of Svalbard, about 400 miles north of Finland. The Svalbard ptarmigan are bigger than rock ptarmigan in mainland Europe — they are about 35–40cm long and weigh, depending on the season, between 490 and 1000g.
Arctic
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