I have known my father in-law for about 10 years now and we have spent a lot of time together out searching for wildlife in and around the Terrenceville area (where he is from). During those outings he has shared numerous stories with me about when he was younger and the wildlife that roamed the barrens and hill sides surrounding the town. He spoke of herds of Woodland Caribou so large it looked as those the hills were moving. He also talked about Willow Ptarmigan and how they would be spotted on very small ridge and sitting in the alder/ juniper trees feeding.

Though I have spent the past 10 years photographing a small herd of Caribou in the Terrenceville area I had only once seen one single Willow Ptarmigan on the barrens.

Well that was about to change as a couple weeks ago I got a call from Jenelle’s father telling me that groups of Willow Ptarmigan had been spotted along the barrens feeding on the alders. Thinking it was probably a one time sighting I didn’t think much of it. Fast forward a few weeks and he was still spotting them and in large groups.

Luckily my daughter had an extra day off school so off we went for a long weekend. The 2 hour drive brought us to the road leading into Terrenceville right as the sun was setting and conditions were truly magical as the blowing snow wiped across the barrens (iPhone image of the barrens and road heading into Terrenceville)

Sadly I only caught a glimpse of one group of Ptarmigan further off the road feeding among some thick alders which didn’t provide any great photography opportunities.

The following morning my Father in-law and I were up bright and early so that we could reach our location before sunrise. As we scanned the road side we spotted small groups scattered everywhere but they were very skittish..often moving off or taking flight the moment we stopped the vehicle near them.

Finally we spotted a group of three hanging out underneath a Juniper tree and they appeared to tolerate our presence a little more. Belly crawling slowing over a snow bank and out into the open I was able to capture these images just as the sun crested the horizon.

Before long the intensity of the sun became to much due to clear skies so we ended out morning session with this group. Of course this meant I was very eager to get back out to search for them again in the evening…an hour and a half before sunset we were back on the road.

This time we headed further out onto the main highway and boy what a surprise we got. At one point we had nearly 40 birds in one group moving along the barrens at a quick pace towards the road. It was truly amazing to see so many birds….I imagined that this was very similar to years long ago when these birds covered the landscape.

Out of fear of flushing them I stayed in the car but unfortunately the higher vantage point didn’t allow for the nice low angle that I prefer. I did manage to come away with this one image that I liked

At this point the light was at its prime

and I was frantically looking for a group on the opposite side of the road so that I could capture some back or side light images with the blowing snow. Just as my hopes of capturing such images were beginning to fade I spotted two individual birds out in the open and higher up on the bank which allowed me to stay in the car and capture these two images which turned out to be my favorites from the days sessions.

With the sun now hidden below the distant hills we made our way back home but on our return I caught a glimpse of a couple Ptarmigan hanging out in a patch of alders feeding. Although the scene was busy with branches I really liked the contrast of the bird against the dark surroundings.

I couldn’t have asked for a better outing for my first time ever photographing this species and little did I know there was still more to come…

Check back soon for part two of this amazing encounter with the Willow Ptarmigan.