On Fri, 31 Jul 1998, S. Downes wrote:
> Scott:
> It's been twenty years since we backpacked into Heart and Cream Lakes, by way
> of Appleton Peak, but we saw spruce grouse on nearly every trip. Blues, too.
> We learned to tell the males apart: spruce eye combs are a deeper red than
> blue's orangey one; spruce seem overall black compared to blue's browner look;
> spruce has quite a bit of white on face including large spot behind, below the
> eye.

Where are Heart and Cream Lakes? I could find Appleton Peak, and
Appleton Pass (DeLorme, p76, T28N, R08W, in Clallam Co.) but it doesn't
show those lakes. Based on Spruce Grouse habitat association elsewhere in
Washington State (relatively dry Lodgepole Pine forests) *if* S Grouse
occur in the Olympics, I would have guessed they'd be concentrated on the
rain-shadowed northeastern side of the range (the northeast side of
Hurricane Ridge and into the Buckhorn Wilderness). Appleton Peak is in a
wet part of the range (though it might have a dry side). 'Course the
mythical Olympic Spruce Grouse might be a different subspecies utilizing
different habitats than its Cascades cousins.

Kelly Cassidy