October 17 '05

Hi Tweeters;

The great new photos of the Spruce Grouse I just looked at are somewhat different than what I remember up in the Mt. Baker area in 1988. For one thing, I recall a long narrow white eyeline extending behind the eye (female). Another; the tail of the female I saw had a chestnut grond color. But it also had the long, white-tipped upper tail-coverts shown here. Also, mine had a warm brown ground color on the top of the head with narrow, broken cross-barring. I only saw it from the top and back. Maybe there are really several isolated subspecies in the western mountains (including the Olympics?).

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham
vogelfreund at comcast.net
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