White-tailed ptarmigan White-tailed ptarmigan The white-tailed ptarmigan ("Lagopus leucura"), also known as the snow quail, is the smallest bird in the grouse family. It is a permanent resident of high altitudes on or above the tree line and is native to Alaska and the mountainous parts of Canada and the western United States. It has also been introduced into the Sierra Nevada in California, the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon and the Uinta Mountains in Utah. Its plumage is cryptic and varies at different times of the year. In the summer it is speckled in gray, brown and white whereas in winter it
Buffalo Mountain Trail the Gore Range. Looking like a fattened herbivore curled on its side beneath a covering of winter snows, Buffalo Mountain overlooks Silverthorne, Dillon, Keystone, and Frisco. Buffalo Mountain Trail ascends through a lodgepole pine forest, past exposed rock formations, into a steep boulder field of krummholz. The trail continues along the east-facing ridge to a nearly flat tundra near the summit. Buffalo Mountain offers views of the Ten Mile Range to the south, Grays Peak, 14,270 feet, and Torreys Peak, 14,267 feet, to the southeast, and the Ptarmigan Wilderness. Greatest Hikes in Central Colorado: Summit and Eagle Counties, a hiking