Ptarmigan Camouflage Design

One of the most remarkable birds on the planet is the ptarmigan. Along with the snowshoe hare and the Arctic fox, the ptarmigan is a master of disguise. What these animals do is change from dark colors in the summer to totally white in the winter. When I was in Alaska, I saw these animals in the snow. Their coloration was as white as the snow itself, and the only thing you could see was a pair of eyes.

What is unique about the ptarmigan is that they seem to be aware of the importance of their coloration. The changeover from winter plumage to summer is a difficult time for a bird because of the danger of predation if they lose their camouflage. However, if they dropped all of their feathers, they would be unable to fly. What the ptarmigan does is seek out patches of mud and dirt and bathe itself so that its camouflage remains effective.

The question is how the ptarmigan knows to do this. With a brain the size of a pea, this bird could not reason and plan this camouflage behavior. The three species of ptarmigan (rock, willow, and white-tailed) were designed to be aware of their environment and themselves. Joe Jackson wrote in Alaska magazine, “This is a bird that’s hyperaware of what’s around it, and, we now know, hyperaware of itself.”

Trying to explain this astonishing behavior by chance is creative but not logical.  It appears that an intelligence has designed a system that enables this bird to survive in a complex environment. We truly can “know there is a God through the things He has made” (Romans 1:20). 

— John N. Clayton © 2025

Reference: Joe Jackson writing in the July/August 2025 issue of Alaska magazine, page 44