Blue grouse Dendragapus obscurus
Identification Tips:
Length: 17 inches
Medium-sized, stocky, round-winged, chicken-like bird
Long, squarish tail ...
Blue Grouse breed from Yukon south along the coast into California and in the mountains into Arizona and New Mexico. In Alberta, it occurs in the southwestern part, along the foothills country.
Blue Grouse
about — blog — twitter — feedback — contact — terms — privacy — help
© 2009-2011 WildObs.com, except where specified. All Rights Reserved.
Range The blue grouse can be found from southeastern Alaska and the Northwest territories south to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.
Blue Grouse Dendragapus obscurus
Described by: Say (1823)
Alternate common name(s): Dusky Grouse, Richardson's Grouse
Old scientific name(s): Falcipennis obscurus ...
The Sooty Grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus) is a recent "split" from the Blue Grouse complex. The Sooty Grouse is a bird of the coastal mountains of the western United States and Canada.
Blue Grouse Photos
Click on the thumbnail for high-resolution photos. Note these are all of the "Dusky" subspecies of Blue Grouse, with "Dusky" and "Sooty" Grouse sometimes split from "Blue Grouse" into two separate species.
DUSKY GROUSE.
[Blue Grouse.]
TETRAO OBSCURUS, Say.
[Dendragapus obscurus.] ...
Then 3 years ago we saw our first Blue Grouse while driving a logging road north of Squaw Valley. Well, the Blue Grouse is no longer a species. In 2006 the AOU split the Blue Grouse into 2 species.
In contrast, Blue Grouse in the mountains of North America move as little as a kilometer down the slopes to a lower altitude for the winter months and then return up the mountainside in the spring.
In southern portions of their range, they consume ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus), hares (Lepus spp.), and red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) [16].
Hens may also lay eggs in nests of other ground nesting birds such as mallards, blue-winged teal, gray partridge, bobwhite, turkey, ruffed and blue grouse. Incubation, usually by the female, lasts twenty three to twenty five days.
Genus Dendragapus
Dusky Grouse and Sooty Grouse were formerly considered one species, the Blue Grouse.
The female is reddish brown with black and white barring. The Blue Grouse is similar but lacks the barring on the underparts. The tip of the tail is another way to distinguish the two birds. Tail tips are brown in the Spruce and gray in the Blue.
 See also: Grouse, Ruffe, Ruffed Grouse, Turkey, Fly
|
