White-tailed ptarmigan summer plumage. The finely-barred greyish coloration on the back makes it easy to distinguish this species from the much browner willow ptarmigan and rock ptarmigan. Both sexes maintain white tail and wing feathers all the year and males can be identified by their reddish eyecombs (fleshy growths above the eye), also present year-long. In general this bird is silent but it sometimes makes quiet, low-pitched hoots and soft clucking noises. The white-tailed ptarmigan is an alpine species, a permanent resident of the high mountains above or near the timber line. It occupies open country and flies a great deal more
Climate of the Arctic of heat from the subsurface land and ocean (both of which gain heat in summer and release it in winter) to the surface and atmosphere. Arctic days lengthen rapidly in March and April, and the sun rises higher in the sky, both bringing more solar radiation to the Arctic than in winter. During these early months of Northern Hemisphere spring most of the Arctic is still experiencing winter conditions, but with the addition of sunlight. The continued low temperatures, and the persisting white snow cover, mean that this additional energy reaching the Arctic from the sun is slow to have