AI overview
The Willow Grouse is a bird species found in northern regions that changes its plumage color with the seasons, turning white in winter and brown in summer for camouflage. It matters because it serves as an indicator of environmental changes in arctic and subarctic ecosystems, and its population and behavior can reflect the effects of climate change on these fragile habitats.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
The willow ptarmigan (/ˈtɑːrmɪɡən/ TAR-mi-gən; Lagopus lagopus) is a bird in the grouse tribe Tetraonini of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse. The willow ptarmigan breeds in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska and Canada, in particular in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. It is the state bird of Alaska.
In the summer the birds are largely brown, with dappled plumage, while in the winter they are white with some black feathers in their tails. The species has remained little changed from the bird that roamed the tundra during the Pleistocene. Nesting takes place in the spring when clutches of four to ten eggs are laid in a scrape on the ground. The chicks are precocial and soon leave the nest. While they are young, both parents play a part in caring for them. The chicks eat insects and young plant growth while the adults are completely herbivorous, eating leaves, flowers, buds, seeds and berries during the summer and largely subsisting on the buds and twigs of willow and other dwarf shrubs and trees during the winter.