Tweets:

I received the following request for a grouse ID (possible Spruce Grouse)
from Daniel Mathews. He found the grouse west of the range shown in the
Breeding Bird Atlas, in Snohomish County. He has sent me his scanned photo.
It's at:
http://www.seanet.com/~lostriver/grouse.htm

Mr. Mathews is not subscribed to tweeters. If you know which grouse this
is, please cc your comments to him at
Ravenedit at aol.com

Kelly Cassidy

-----Original Message-----
From: Ravenedit at aol.com <Ravenedit at aol.com>
To: kelly at u.washington.edu <kelly at u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 1:19 PM
Subject: spruce grouse for atlas


>Dear Birders
>On 8/12/96 I saw a grouse female leading her brood around, by the Crest
Trail
>just north of Glacier Peak. That would be T31N R14E Sec 27 at about 5200'
>elev. Somewhat outside the peripheral habitat on [Smith's online] map, let
>along nearby records, especially because it's several miles west of the
>Cascade Crest.
>
>I'm only about 95% sure on the i.d., though, and would be interested in
>sending you my photo.
>
>Anyway, this grouse is barred all over in shades of gray/black/white, not
>brown; photo shows only a very few white bars having a yellow tinge. And a
>slight orange eyebrow. I saw Spruce grouse in Canadian Rockies this
summer,
>and they were gold-brown; but all the refs say female Spruce grouse has a
>brown phase and a gray phase---and they all depict only the brown phase, so
>I'm left wondering just how completely gray the gray phase is, and whether
it
>is known in Washington. Photo #262 in Udvardy 1977 is totally gray, but is
>presumably a male.
>
>Of course the other variability question would be just how completely a
White-
>tailed Ptarmigan can lose its white patches in summer. This female had none
at
>all, and seemed both big for a Ptarmigan and low-elevation for a Ptarmigan.
>(I've seen Ptarmigan a few times in the North Cascades, but its been
several years
>now.)
>
>Daniel Mathews
>
>