> I just got back from yet another trip up to the fire. New arrivals
>(from my perspective) were American Tree Sparrow (in a riparian
>area dominated by drummond willow), and white crowned sparrows (in the
>upland areas adjacent to open meadows-some lodgepole cover). I also found
>the ptarmigan approx 500 yd from where I found them last year (6200ft- at
>the edge of a wet meadow with a dense lodgepole/spruce edge). These birds
>were heavily barred in an alternate chestnut/black/white pattern across
>the breast and back, had a small red/brown patch caudal to the eye. They
>had not started to turn white at all. One bird "displayed" and the fanned
>tail (rear view) was entirely black but lateral feathers were white tipped
>giving the impression on white spots against the black tail. I tentatively
>keyed these to rock ptarmigan.

Mary, you're boggling the birding community again! There are no records of
Rock Ptarmigan (or Willow Ptarmigan) in Washington, and if you saw a
ptarmigan with a black tail, you've got something interesting indeed. Do
you know that the tail coverts entirely cover most of the tail? In
White-tailed Ptarmigan you can often only see the white tail in flight, but
I suppose in a bird that fanned its tail, you should be able to see more of
the feathers. The two black-tailed ptarmigan species have very narrow
white tips, but they are much more prominent on the *central* feathers and
not very obvious at all on the lateral feathers. However, there's a
distinct possibility that you could have seen a White-tailed in which the
dark coverts covered much of the tail, and all you'd see were the (white)
tips of the lateral feathers.

> There were also some grouse in an old growth spruce adjacent to
>the riparian that were immature and appeared to be ruffed grouse. They had
>a white tipped tail and a grey "cape" over the shoulders, were slightly
>crested, and no eye patch. I'd be interested in a discussion on field
>characteristics of immature grouse.

Blue Grouse in that area have a light-gray-tipped tail, which could easily
look whitish. The gray "cape" sounds like Blue Grouse. Spruce Grouse have
entirely black tails. Ruffed Grouse have black-tipped tails (with a very
narrow white tip beyond that, hard to see at a distance) and are
*extremely* unlikely to occur in high-elevation spruce forest. All the
juvenile grouse have tails much like the adults.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416