Colorado Parks & Wildlife - Species Data - Ptarmigan Winter Range
Creator(s):
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Biologists, District Wildlife Managers, and Researchers
Description:
PtarmiganWinterRange is an ESRI SDE Feature Class showing Winter Range for White-Tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus) in Colorado. Winter Range is defined as an area utilized in winter most frequently where drainage basins at or above treeline and stream courses below treeline from 2,591 to 3,810m elevation (8,500 to 12,500ft) where food (willow) and roosting sites (soft snow) are readily available. Winter range is typically defined from late October thru mid-April. The CDOW Special Report Number 38, Wintering Areas and Winter Ecology of White-tailed Ptarmigan in Colorado published in 1976 was used as the based data for development of the ptarmigan winter range dataset. This information was derived from field personnel. A variety of data capture techniques were used including drawing on mylar overlays at 1:50,000 scale USGS county mapsheets and implementation of the SmartBoard Interactive Whiteboard using stand-up, real-time digitizing at various scales (Cowardin, M., M. Flenner. March 2003. Maximizing Mapping Resources. GeoWorld 16(3):32-35).