A long time ago the seasons in Alaska never changed, and it was always summer. The ptarmigan was always brown. One day the ptarmigan heard a voice in the sky that said it wanted to talk to ptarmigan. So ptarmigan flew way up into the sky, past the clouds. There he saw a swan who said, "You are the bird who will tell the people when the seasons will change."

"How will I tell the people if I can't even talk?" replied the ptarmigan.

"The color on your feathers will change", it said, "When you fly through the clouds, you will turn white."

"Wow, will I turn like the snow?" asked ptarmigan.

"You will change colors like the seasons will change in Alaska But you shall never fly beyond the clouds again, or the seasons in Alaska will never change, and it will always be winter."

When ptarmigan flew down to the land, he was all white. All the animals looked at him with curiosity, but they all understood why he was white. After they saw him, the bear hibernated, the fox went into his den and the birds all flew south. The humans also understood why he was white. They gathered enough firewood for the winter to come.

From then on, ptarmigan changed colors according to the seasons. When spring came, their color would turn brown again. So it is that ever since then, people would look at the ptarmigan to see what season was coming up next.

Written by
Angela M. Kameroff