This posting continues the thread begun by Wayne Weber a month ago, and
follows up especially on the observation by Wayne, Steve Mlodinow, Gene
Hunn, and others that the question of the distribution of Sooty and Dusky
Grouse south of about Lake Chelan remains unclear.

Yesterday I birded in north central and northeastern Kittitas County, up the
Colockum Road over Colockum Pass then west on the Naneum Ridge Road as far
as the first set of communications towers. I came across two "Blue" Grouse
and had the good fortune to be able to study both of them closely.

The first bird was a female wandering across Colockum Road in T19N R20E S11,
about eight-tenths of a mile south of the cattle guard where Colockum Road
bears left, Caribou Road turns off right, and Powerline Road continues more
or less straight ahead. Vegetation where the bird was seen is very open
ponderosa pine with low brush and grasses. The elevation is about 4,700
feet. The bird took her time leaving the road, giving me the opportunity to
observe with binoculars from the truck at a distance of about 40 feet.
However, there appears to be no way of determining species for females, at
least not by sight. The tip of the folded tail was pale gray, contrasting
with the otherwise light brownish coloration of the rest of the plumage.

The second bird was a male that flew across the road in front of my truck,
angling upward and holding its tail spread. It then landed about 10 feet up
on an outside branch of a tree 10-15 feet off the road and sat there as I
observed it with binoculars for close to one minute. This bird's tail was
all-black with perhaps the merest hint of light tips to the rectrices when
seen in flight. No such tips were visible, however, on the folded tail of
the seated bird. This sighting was at the upper edge of the Stemilt Creek
drainage about a mile and a half south of the Chelan County line in T20N
R20E S8, along Naneum Ridge Road one mile northwest of the intersection with
the road that takes you down to Coleman Canyon. Elevation there is about
5,900 feet, in a dense forest dominated by lodgepole pine.

Conclusion? At least one Dendragapus grouse in the eastern Wenatchee
Mountains appears to be a Dusky Grouse, with the caution that the
identification is based only on a single field mark.

How far south does the range of Dusky extend along the east slope of the
Cascades? From the older authorities and records, summarized by Jewett et
al. (1953), the assumption seems to be that all "Blue" Grouse in Kittitas
County should be Sooty. Birds at Snoqualmie Pass are definitely Sooty, as
one would expect in the wet forests in the vicinity of this relatively low
pass. Sooty is the only form that occurs farther south in Yakima County
(Stepniewski 1999). Further field work, including the inspection of hunters'
bags, is definitely needed in northern Kittitas and Chelan counties to
clarify the Dusky/Sooty interface.

NOTE: On the gray tail-band as a good field-mark for separating male Sooty
(has a broad band) and Dusky (little or no band for the subspecies in our
area), I rely upon the BNA account by Zwickel (p. 19); the account in
Campbell et al., Birds of British Columbia, vol. 2; and remarks posted to
these lists. The Sibley account is totally confusing on this subject, which
does not mean that Sibley may not be right. But if he is right, then
confirmed identification for these two species in the field will require
observation of the air-sac color of displaying males, or obtaining sonograms
of the males' hooting.

Hal Opperman
Medina, Washington
hal at catharus.net