Cobirders,
I got some pretty good shots of a banded White-tailed Ptarmigan hen on Mount Evans August 28th. I learned of Clait Braun's research on these birds from Brad Andres, Joe Roller and Joyce Gellhorn, so I wrote Dr. Braun. I was delighted to get a response today and thought you might be interested in what he had to say. I've copied our emails below.
Dr. Braun,
I've been reading Joyce Gellhorn's book about White-tailed Ptarmigan and saw where she sent you pictures of a banded bird and you were able to give her some of the history on the bird. I've attached pictures I took of a hen on Mount Evans August 28, 2012.
Can you give me any information about the bird based on the bands? If not, could you refer me to someone who can? I'd like to share it with the Evergreen Audubon newsletter readers in my next column.
Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide.
Marilyn Rhodes
Marilyn:
Thank you for sending the great photographs of the female White-tailed Ptarmigan taken on Mt. Evans on 28 August 2012. The band combination (R/G W/Blue/Alum) indicate this is female # 7066. This particular bird was first banded on 21 August 2009 as a 1+ (yearling, hatched in 2008) in the upper basin on the east side of Mt. Evans. I believe she has been reobserved each year and is now 4 years of age. This individual was banded as part of a long-term (1966 to present) study of White-tailed Ptarmigan in the Mt. Evans area now being conducted by Greg Wann, a graduate student at Colorado State University with me as a helper. The study is now focusing on ptarmigan response to climate change.
I knew Joyce Gelhorn well and greatly miss her accompaniment in the alpine.
Clait
Clait E. Braun
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