Skip to content

Ptarmigan Counts Reached an 11-Year High as Gyrfalcons Had a Strong Breeding Season in Alaska

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 the 11 years of The Peregrine Fund’s Gyrfalcon & Tundra Conservation Program. 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 programme reported the 2026 results on 13 September.

Record prey numbers coincided with strong gyrfalcon breeding

Willow ptarmigan stood out especially strongly: their count was more than twice the previous record, which had been set only in 2025. The programme does not report a separate record for rock ptarmigan, but the two species together produced the highest ptarmigan numbers in the monitoring series.

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 programme describes abundant ptarmigan as an important food base entering the breeding season, while the monitoring data themselves show an association rather than a test of how much the prey peak caused the breeding result.

Unusually young breeders remain a signal to watch

Gyrfalcons normally do not begin breeding until their third year, but in 2025 the team recorded five second-year birds attempting to breed — the largest change in age structure the programme had seen. 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, but the programme has not established the cause.

The combination of record prey numbers, strong breeding output and unusually young breeding gyrfalcons illustrates why the programme follows several parts of the tundra food web at the same time. Continued monitoring will show whether the 2026 prey peak was temporary and whether the shift toward younger breeders persists as Arctic conditions continue to change.

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

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Population & status

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Rock Ptarmigan Lagopus muta Explore species

Independent research and conservation news archive

Did you find this information useful?

Wildlife Vagabond is independently built and maintained. Voluntary support helps cover source verification, hosting and continued work on research and conservation news.

Support Wildlife Vagabond

The news archive will remain freely available.