Birds in Nature - images of wild birds by Richard Ditch

Subject: White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus)
Place: Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA
Date: September 1987
Equipment: Nikon FE2, Nikkor 200/4 macro, hand held
Film: Kodachrome 64
Exposure: aperture priority center-weighted meter, no compensation
Scan: Minolta Dimage, 95% of frame

Commentary: Ptarmigan plumage changes with the season to match the bird's surroundings, making them very hard to find even where they are known to be. The White-tailed is the only one of the three species in North America found in the Lower 48 States. Most birders look for them in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but there is also a small population in the mountains of Washington where I took this shot.

Even more so than in most of my bird photos, the setting here is a very important part of the overall image. Without it, the cryptic nature of the plumage is lost. I've kept the bird fairly small in the frame to help show how difficult it is to see, even when it is known to be in a very small area.