Dusky Grouse
Dusky Grouse: Large, chicken-like bird, dark gray to blue-gray plumage, red-orange eye combs, black squared tail with narrow pale gray terminal band. Patch of violet-red skin on neck surrounded by white feathers is displayed during courtship. Formerly (with Sooty Grouse) known as Blue Grouse.
● Song:
"hoot-hoot-hoot-hoot", "whoop-whoop-whoop"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Dusky Grouse: Feeds almost exclusively on conifer needles during winter. In spring, summer, and fall, diet shifts to insects, spiders, salal berries, snowberries, red huckleberry fruit, and fern tips; forages on the ground.
● Breeding & nesting:
Dusky Grouse: Seven to sixteen pink buff eggs, usually spotted brown, are laid in a ground scrape lined with pine needles and grass, usually sheltered by a stump or rock. Incubation ranges from 25 to 26 days and is carried out by the female. Precocial young leave nest soon after hatching.
● Similar species:
Dusky Grouse: Male Spruce Grouse has white bars on breast, barred back, and brown terminal tail band. Female has narrow rust-brown terminal tail band and white bars on underparts. Ruffed Grouse is browner, has black subterminal tail band and more white on underparts. Sooty Grouse has a wider gray terminal band on tail, male has yellow air sacs and yellow combs over eyes.
● Range & Habitat:
Dusky Grouse: Resident from the Yukon and Northwest Territories, south to Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. Preferred habitats include burned areas, montane forests, slashes, and subalpine forest clearings.