Blue Grouse - BirdForum Opus

Dendragapus obscurus

Photo by Dacol
Displaying male. Location: Clark, Colorado, USA

Identification

42cm. Mottled brown, chicken-like birds with a dark tail.
Males: have a yellow comb above the eye that can be raised during displays, and black-tipped white feathers on the neck that cover reddish patches of bare skin, which are inflatable during displays. Grey band on tail
Females: are mottled brown above and mottled gray below. Brown tail with grey band. Northern populations of Dusky Grouse (Nevada-Idaho border north) lack the blue-gray tail band seen in Sooty Grouse, but Dusky Grouse in the southern part of the species range (Nevada, Utah, southward) do have the tail band.

Distribution

North America.

Taxonomy

The 47th Supplement to the AOU Checklist split this species into Dusky Grouse D. obscurus of the Rockies and Sooty Grouse D. fuliginosus of the Pacific Coast.

Photo by Dave B Smith
female (Dusky)
Location: Sheep River PP, Alberta, Canada

Habitat

Conifer and mixed forests, shrub, desert, tundra, upto 3,600m.

Behaviour

They nest in a ground scrape.

In winter the diet includes conifer needles,

References

47th Supplement to the AOU Checklist

External Links

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