What is AWEBO?
AWEBO is an internet name for the male willow ptarmigan and its strange spring call. The bird is real. The sound is real. AWEBO.no is where that bird becomes a quiet field walk, a small family archive, and a handmade wool ptarmigan series from northern Norway.
The short answer
The bird. The AWEBO bird is the male willow ptarmigan, Lagopus lagopus — a small mountain grouse found across the Norwegian fells, Iceland, Siberia, Alaska, northern Canada, and the British and Irish uplands (where the population is usually treated as a subspecies of willow ptarmigan and called the red grouse).
The name. AWEBO is the onomatopoeic spelling of the male’s loud, croaking spring advertisement call — heard on the fells around Tranøy in Nordland for generations as something close to a-WE-bo, a-WE-bo, a-WE-bo.
The world. AWEBO.no is a quiet free browser field walk (awebo.no/play) and a small handmade wool ptarmigan series made in Norway (awebo.no/handmade) — some made to carry, some set on Norwegian mountain stone.
Where the name comes from
In late winter and early spring, the male willow ptarmigan flies up from a tussock or low birch branch and gives a loud, descending advertisement call. To English ears it is often written as go-back, go-back, go-back. To the people who walked the fells of northern Norway in the generations that made the original wool ptarmigans, it sounded instead like a-WE-bo, a-WE-bo, a-WE-bo. AWEBO is simply that call written down.
How to recognise the AWEBO bird
The male willow ptarmigan changes plumage three times a year.
- Spring (April–June). Rust-red head, neck, and breast against a white belly and white wings. A small red comb above the eye. This is the AWEBO posture in the trademark.
- Summer (July–September). Mottled brown all over — near-perfect camouflage in dwarf birch and crowberry.
- Winter (November–March). Pure white from beak to feet, except a small black tail. Feathered toes (the genus name Lagopus means “hare-foot”).
Where AWEBO lives
Willow ptarmigan are circumpolar: they live in a band around the northern hemisphere wherever the treeline meets the tundra. In Norway they are common across the fells from the southern mountains up through Finnmark. (Svalbard, further north, has a different bird — the Svalbard rock ptarmigan — not the willow ptarmigan.) The AWEBO name was given on the fells around Tranøy in Nordland, northern Norway — also the first geotagged scene in the AWEBO walking game.
The AWEBO trademark
AWEBO is a registered trademark in Norway, owned by Rokter Holding — the Norwegian company that also owns the Rokter brand. The registration is on file with the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (Patentstyret).
What you can do on awebo.no
- Take the walk — a free browser field walk on a tile-based Norwegian fell.
- See the handmade AWEBOs — a small handmade wool ptarmigan series made in Norway. Some made to carry, some set on Norwegian mountain stone. Both ship worldwide.
Frequently asked about AWEBO
- What is the AWEBO bird?
- The AWEBO bird is the male willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), a small grouse that lives across the Norwegian fells, the Arctic tundra, and the subarctic birch forests. The name AWEBO is an onomatopoeic spelling of the male's spring call.
- Why is it called AWEBO?
- In spring, the male willow ptarmigan flies up from a tussock and gives a loud, croaking advertisement call that people in northern Norway have heard for generations as something close to a-WE-bo, a-WE-bo. AWEBO is that call written down.
- Where does AWEBO live?
- Willow ptarmigan are circumpolar — they live across northern Scandinavia, Iceland (where they are called rjúpa and are the national game bird), Siberia, Alaska, and northern Canada. The British and Irish uplands have the red grouse, which most modern taxonomies treat as a subspecies of willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus scotica), though some authorities still list it separately. AWEBO itself was named on the fells around Tranøy in Nordland, northern Norway, which is also the first geotagged scene in the AWEBO walking game.
- Is AWEBO a real registered trademark?
- Yes. AWEBO is a registered trademark in Norway. The mark is held by Rokter Holding, the Norwegian company that also owns the Rokter brand. Everything published on awebo.no is released under that registration.
- Is the AWEBO bird the same as a seagull?
- No. The AWEBO bird is a ptarmigan, not a seagull. The two birds are unrelated — ptarmigan are ground-dwelling mountain grouse; seagulls are coastal scavengers.
- Can I buy an AWEBO?
- Yes. AWEBO.no offers a small handmade wool ptarmigan series made in Norway. Some are made to carry; some are set on Norwegian mountain stone. Current batch and pricing are on the handmade page.
- Is there a free way to experience AWEBO?
- Yes. The AWEBO walking game at awebo.no/play is free and runs in any modern browser. You walk a tile-based Norwegian fell, flush ptarmigan and other northern wildlife from real geotagged scenes, and keep what appears in a memory log. No account, no signup.
- How do I recognise a male willow ptarmigan in the wild?
- In spring the male is rust-red on the head and neck with white wings and belly, transitioning to fully white in winter and mottled brown in summer. The eye is dark with a small red comb above it. The legs are feathered down to the toes — a cold-weather adaptation that gave the species its scientific name, Lagopus, meaning hare-foot.
- What does the AWEBO call sound like?
- A loud, descending, croaking sequence often described as go-back, go-back, go-back or, in northern Norway, a-WE-bo, a-WE-bo. The British Library Wildlife Sounds collection has open recordings of the same species under its English name (red grouse).
Take the walk · See the handmade AWEBOs