In winter, white-tailed ptarmigan are virtually invisible when they remain motionless. With a blizzard getting worse by the minute in the alpine, I was within 15 feet before I noticed these two. /LEON LORENZThe mountain goat (also known as the Rocky Mountain goat) has a Western North America alpine range that extends from Alaska and the Yukon and Northwest Territories down to Colorado. The total population is estimated at between 80,000 and 110,000 with more than half that number in British Columbia. With the mountain goat rut just recently completed the males (billies) will soon separate from the nannies and kids and go back to living their solitary lives. Note the battle scars on the face of the billy that was acquired from fighting other males during the rut. /LEON LORENZ
