But the Ptarmigan spends its winters farther north than any other bird. Snows soon blanket its home – brown feathers would be too obvious against the white landscape. So the Ptarmigan molts into brilliant white feathers in winter. This makes the bird almost invisible in its snowy home. Fluffy white feathers even cover the Ptarmigan’s feet – keeping them warm and turning their feet into wide snowshoes.

The Ptarmigan is also unusual in having three different camouflages: Summer-Brown, Winter-White, and in spring, the Ptarmigan becomes a patchy half-brown, half-white. This springtime coat helps hide the Ptarmigan when the tundra is patchy with melting snow.

Even more incredible: the females molt into summer-brown sooner than the males. By late spring, the females are hiding on their nests, in the brown tundra. But the males are still defending their territory- some flashy white can help the males stand out. The Ptarmigan’s molts are perfectly coordinated with the northern seasons.

There are three species of Ptarmigan: the Willow, Rock, and White-tailed. Each has many subtle subspecies. For instance, the “Red Grouse” of Britain is actually a type of Willow Ptarmigan. Since it lives farther south, in regions with little snow, it does not need to turn white in the winter.

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1. A Bird Extravaganza: Central California in Winter
2. Clark’s Nutcracker Prepares for Winter
3. Winter Wings Festival, Oregon

This all begs the question, “Do birdwatchers really need to dress like they are playing war games in order to watch our feathered friends?” Of course, the answer is “No”. The better question may be to postulate whether birds can see color and if they can try to understand what they are seeing in the first place.

Let’s establish first that birds do indeed see color. Birds have color vision and their vision is pretty darn good. Much better in fact, that the vision of humans. Up until the early 1970’s it was widely thought that birds had trichromatic color vision comparable to that of humans – the ability to break things down into three basic colors. Later in the mid-1970’s it was discovered that birds can see light in the near-ultraviolet (uv) range and that spurred on even more study. Today it is widely accepted that the avian eye, not the human eye, is the superior color vision system. It is now believed that birds see more colors (hues) than we do and the colors also appear more saturated to birds than do ours to us.

It’s accepted that birds probably do see colors similar to the way we see them, although not in exactly the same hue. A green field jacket is probably a richer shade of green through the bird’s eyes than what we are actually seeing. The important issue here, is that bird can see you. And thanks to their heightened sense of hearing, they can hear you jostling around behind that bush.

Standing still with tree limbs sticking out of your hat will not endear you any more or less to the bird. Staying still and being patient will earn you more bonus points that if you look like you’re going to carnival in Brazil.

So in the final analysis, it is not so much what you wear, but how you conduct yourself that will bring you the most bird-watching satisfaction. Want to dress like Rambo? Go for it. But while you’re at it, stay hidden behind that tree so the rest of the birdwatchers can enjoy the scenery as well.

Related posts:

1. Bird Watching in Peru
2. Exquisite Bird Watching in Turkey
3. Perfect Winter Camouflage