White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura) | Details

White-tailed Ptarmigan Lagopus leucura

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Least Concern
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	altitudinal migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	4,550,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	2000000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2003
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.4 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated to number 2,000,000 mature individuals (Partners in Flight 2019).

Trend justification: The population trend is uncertain, with potential small declines (Partners in Flight 2019, see also Panjabi et al. 2019). Given the threats facing this species, e.g. mining and climate change (Martin et al. 2015), the population is precautionarily considered to be in slow decline.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Canada	extant	native	yes
USA	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Boreal	suitable	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		suitable	resident
Altitude	2000 - 0 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: White-tailed Ptarmigan Lagopus leucura. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/white-tailed-ptarmigan-lagopus-leucura on 04/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 04/12/2024.