White-tailed ptarmigan than forest grouse, but still prefers running to flying. It ranges from Alaska and western Canada south to northern New Mexico. Males return from their wintering areas to establish territories on spruce-willow timber line breeding grounds in April. Females arrive in early May and pairs are formed. The white-tailed ptarmigan is the only bird in North America to reside permanently in the alpine zone. Its habitat includes areas of boulders, krummholz, snowfields, rock slides, frost-heaved soil and upland herbage. Even in winter it stays in high valleys and mountain slopes where alder, willow, birch and spruce poke through the snow
Climate of the Arctic noon, not much energy is reaching the surface. Furthermore, most of the small amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface is reflected away by the bright snow cover. Cold snow reflects between 70% and 90% of the solar radiation that reaches it, and snow covers most of the Arctic land and ice surface in winter. These factors result in a negligible input of solar energy to the Arctic in winter; the only things keeping the Arctic from continuously cooling all winter are the transport of warmer air and ocean water into the Arctic from the south and the transfer