Here's another Iray render from my Gamebirds update. Rock Ptarmigans are great at camouflage and perfectly suited for their high attitude habitats. I can still remember hiking close to "Base Camp" (where the ice hiking begins) at Mt. Rainier in Washington state when out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a rock move. It turned out to be a covey of Ptarmigans, blending in perfectly with the snow. If you're a birder, you know how rare a spot like that is. I savor that moment to this very day. Rock Ptarmigans are found in the Northern Hemisphere; breeding in northern Asia, northern Europe and northwestern North America. They migrate further south in winter. They are found in the open tundra, barren and rocky slopes in Arctic and alpine areas; in winter, some movement to thickets and forest edge. Winter food mainly taken from ground; varies greatly between localities, as well as depending on snow conditions. In Alaska, mainly buds and catkins of dwarf birch (Betula), followed by buds and twigs of willow (Salix), and in Greenland food plants include Saxifraga, Polygonum, Oxyria, Carex and Salix; but in Iceland willows are preferred as well as Vaccinium (Huckleberries), Empetrum and other berry-bearing shrubs are main winter food in Alps and other southern areas. Diet usually much more varied from spring to autumn, consisting of leaves, flowers, berries and seeds of many plants. A true bird of the tundra, the Rock Ptarmigan changes it’s coloring between seasons to blend in with its surroundings. It is pure white in the snow-covered winter, but mottled dark and white when the snows melt. The male Rock Ptarmigan takes longer than the female to change from its white winter plumage into the brown summer garb. During courtship the male is a conspicuous white patch on the brown tundra, visible for kilometers away. The female sitting on the eggs, however, is so well camouflaged that she is difficult to find from less than 2 meters (6 feet) away. The word ptarmigan comes from the Scottish Gaelic tàrmachan, which may be related to torm "murmur". The silent initial "p" was added in the 17th century through the influence of Greek, especially pteron, Greek for "wing". Rendered in Iray. Models by ShaaraMuse3D (Nordic Winter Wood) and me (Songbird ReMix Gamebirds v1)