My vote too goes to White-tailed Ptarmigan. Yes, a white tail. Yes,
toes appear feathered (I enhanced and viewed on some of the best
equipment around). Very mottled with large white patches. The one
detail I'd expect to see in a Sprucey is a buff tipped tail - it is
usually very easy to see. Sprucey also "usually" have a fairly well
defined subocular white ring and a white ear patch. To me Spruce always
seemed to be a rather "neatly" patterned bird (barred NOT mottled) and
because of that my grouse vote would actually go to this bird being a
Blue over Spruce at that - though I'd give a 95% confidence to
White-tailed Ptarmigan. I spent significant time during a summer some
20 years ago observing all the birds mentioned above on an almost daily
basis so I'm fairly confident on this one. The 5200' elevation does not
seem out of line for a White-tailed hen with young in that part of the
Cascades.

(See the Audubon Handbook - Western Birds (Farrand) p 185 White-tailed
Ptarmigan...this bird could have posed for Daniel's picture)

Rob Conway
Bellevue, WA

robin_conway at hotmail.com

>Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 17:11:30 -0800
>Reply-To: steppie at wolfenet.com
>From: "Andy Stepniewski" <steppie at wolfenet.com>
>To: <lostriver at seanet.com>, "tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Cc: <Ravenedit at aol.com>
>Subject: Re: spruce grouse for atlas
>
>My bet is this is a White-tailed Ptarmigan if I interpret the photo
>correctly. My screen seems to show feathered toes, which eliminates
Spruce
>and Blue Grouse. There is enough white splotching plumage-wise to make
it a
>ptarmigan too.
>
>Of course, my screen might not have enough pixels and it may be that
the
>toes are not feathered!
>
>But ptarmigans my vote.
>
>Andy Stepniewski
>Wapato WA
>
>----------
>> From: Kelly Cassidy <lostriver at seanet.com>
>> To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>> Cc: Ravenedit at aol.com
>> Subject: Fw: spruce grouse for atlas
>> Date: Friday, November 20, 1998 4:03 PM
>>
>> 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
>> >
>> >


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