In reponse to Kelly's question >I have always believed (I must have read
it somewhere) that Snowshoe Hares
>in Washington do not turn white during winter (or any other time). Can
>anyone provide evidence otherwise?
Yes, this is something of which I have ample photographic
evidence. I've seen and photographed dozens of hare on our winter tracking
surveys and 100% are white. Ears are frequently a charcoal mottled grey
throughout the winter (better camo in fire areas). The first evidence I
have of color change is usually towards the end of Sept and variable in
the spring but last year on April 5 at 4500 ft we found some that were
beginning to brown up again. Of this I can speak with confidence.

Ptarmigan reponses to Dennis' question >You described the central tail
feathers of one bird and the outer of the other. Does that mean you
didn't see the outer feathers of the first bird or the central feathers of
the second?

The first bird was in tall grass and the feature that struck me
was the baring extended down the central portion of the tail with outer
feathers black and lower, lateral aspects of abdomen white. The second
bird was on a log and was a bit more showy. I could see the central
feathers were black (but could this be positional?) and then it fanned.
The entire rear view was black. The white tips reminded me of the "eyes"
on a peacocks tail, they appeared to be on the lateral feather tips that
were superimposed on the black fan. Beaks on both birds were short and
stout, and both had small reddish/brown eye patches.

>Did you see enough of a spread tail that there's no question
that the feathers were black? Can you say anything more about the "white
tips?"

>Dennis wrote: You still don't have me quite convinced that you saw a
Rock or Willow Ptarmigan, but it's certainly not an impossibility, as both
species are known from fairly far south in British Columbia. Such a
record will need abundant documentation, accompanied by photos, as those
two species can be quite difficult to distinguish. Flush them if you see
them again; that's the best way to see the white wings that tell you
they're ptarmigan and either white or black tail.

This is the second year in a row that I've found these birds at
this location. Would they be expected to remain there throughout the
winter? I run a transect close by this area and can certainly make an
attempt to seek them out this winter for a more definitive analysis.

Dennis also wrote: 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.
I was 10 ft from these birds and they had a broad black tail band
with a narrow terminal white tip. The appearance of the grey cape was
because of a dark outline and more ruffled feathers extending from the
lateral side of the neck dorsally, in a ventral direction.

Thanks for all the discussion on these topics. The areas that we're
inventoring are a disjunct habitat and are mostly unsurveyed. Accurate
documentation is critical and I appreciate all the helpful suggestions. I
wish my good friend Will Betz was here-he's the photographer who
accompanied us on our 10day winter trip through the burn 2 years ago and
whose pics are on the WEB page. He patiently hauled all of his camera
equipment up and shot off rolls of film to get some beautiful pictures of
spruce grouse.