yessterday on moscow mountain i came upon two ruffed grouse young of the
year -- they were only about half again as big as robbins.

dale goble
moscow

On Tue, 3 Sep 1996 jbroadus at seanet.com wrote:

> We were up at Paradise, Mt. Rainier, on one of the lower glacier view trails
> on Sunday and saw what I could have sworn were Ptarmigan. But since they
> practically walked right up to us, and were not above tree line, we were
> convinced that they must be Blue Grouse. I certainly did not think they were
> big enough for grouse, and they did not have a long tail but the ranger
> insisted that they could be juv that were not full grown. Not full grown in
> Sept. ??
>
> They were not white bellied, but I read in the Audubon series book which
> says that Ptarmigan have a post natal molt, so is it possible that they had
> not yet acquired the white? Also, does anyone know if first year birds have
> the red above the eye?
> -------------------------------------
> Name: Clarice Clark
> jbroadus at seanet.com
> 901-16th. St S.W.
> Puyallup, Wa. 98371
> 206-845-3156
> 09/03/96
> 13:39:14
>
>