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Record Ptarmigan Numbers and a Good Breeding Year for Alaska’s Gyrfalcons

Rock ptarmigan on tundra vegetation near Nome, Alaska
Conservation: Population & status · Research: Ecology

Spring surveys on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska, USA, recorded the highest ptarmigan numbers in eleven years of monitoring by The Peregrine Fund. Field teams count both rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) and willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), which make up much of the diet of gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) in the region. The results cover spring and summer 2026.

Plenty of food before breeding

Willow ptarmigan stood out especially strongly: their count was more than twice the previous record, which had been set only in 2025.

The prey peak coincided with one of the stronger recent breeding seasons for gyrfalcons. Helicopter surveys conducted with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game documented 45 breeding pairs, the second-highest number since 2016, and 74 nestlings, above the long-term average. The researchers suggest that abundant ptarmigan appear to have given the gyrfalcons a good start to the breeding season.

Younger gyrfalcons attempt to breed

Gyrfalcons normally do not begin breeding until their third year, but in 2025 the team recorded five second-year birds attempting to breed. The same pattern appeared again in 2026. One possibility raised by the researchers is that higher adult mortality could be opening territories and allowing younger, less experienced birds to enter the breeding population earlier. The cause has not yet been established.

The researchers will watch whether younger birds continue to take up nesting territories. A year with plenty of food and many chicks can therefore bring good news while other changes in the population warrant closer investigation.

Sources and image credit

  1. Walz, D. (2026, September 13). Record prey, strong breeding, and a signal worth watching in Arctic Gyrfalcon country. The Peregrine Fund.Primary conservation-program update from Alaska’s Seward Peninsula. It reports the highest ptarmigan numbers in 11 years, willow ptarmigan counts more than double the previous record, 45 breeding gyrfalcon pairs, 74 nestlings and a repeated increase in second-year birds attempting to breed.

Image: Rock ptarmigan on Kougarok Road near Nome, Alaska, USA, photographed on 10 June 2016. Photo: Alan Schmierer. Source: Wikimedia Commons / Flickr. Representative image; not from the 2026 survey. · CC0 1.0 · Source

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