Posted by: Kyle

We've had a few really good days of skiing this spring, and on a couple of days had the chance to get acquainted with some of the local alpine bird population. On two separate occasions, once up behind the cabin, then again about a week later over in Buckskin Gulch, skiing on the lower part of Mt. Democrat, I had a close encounter with a ptarmigan. The ptarmigan is the smallest member of the grouse family. They live mostly above tree line, and don't migrate in the winter, though they do change from their spotted grey color to completely white in the winter. They also like to burrow just below the surface of the snow to stay warm. Apparently, good burrowing snow for the ptarmigan is also good skiing snow for us, because I almost ran over two different birds on two different days.

They burrow in the snow with their beaks pointing up just below the surface, and if you almost ski over them they come shooting out of the snow like a missile launching from a silo. Apparently they can fly, but prefer to run (according to Wikipedia, anyway). After their initial flight out of their burrows, they mostly just shuffled around, no doubt wishing we'd get off their mountain.

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This guy lives over in Buckskin Gulch, near Kite Lake. He came flying out of the snow on our first lap, then seemed to disappear. A couple of laps later I was skiing directly toward a small disturbed spot in the snow. Thinking it might be the ptarmigan, I skied around it. Sure enough he came flying out again. I stopped and got a couple of pictures. He seemed really curious and came right up to me. I thought he was going to start pecking my skis.

A few more pictures from a great day of skiing: