Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Winthrop Dusky Grouse (old)
Date: Jul 15 01:20:15 2006
From: vogelfreund at comcast.net - vogelfreund at comcast.net


======================
7/15/06

Here I am answering myself:

Although I don't seem to have a topo map of the Winthrop area, I was just looking at an old Okanogan Nat. Forest map to see if I could locate the spot where I saw the male Dusky Grouse, that long ago May morning on a class field trip.

It was northwest of Winthrop to the right of a dirt road. It seems that we went a few miles, and could've been as far as Lewis Butte - the rocky topped hill I mentioned. Or it might have been somewhat closer in toward Winthrop. But the map doesn't show any hills further in. Anyway, it might be harder to find a territorial male this late in the season.

PhilHotlen
--------------------------
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: vogelfreund at comcast.net
> =========================
> July 12, 2006
>
> Hi Tweeters,
>
> As everyone has guessed by now, I've never gotten past the casual bird watcher
> stage. An old sighting of an apparent male Dusky Grouse is a case in point.
>
> In the spring of 1991, I went on a field trip to collect bugs for a beginning
> entomology class I was taking (I've largely ignored bugs ever since). The trip
> took us as far as the Winthrop area, and it's probable that the (apparent)
> private property we were on part of the time is now developed. Anyway, I broke
> off from the others to investigate a rocky outcrop on the little hilltop,
> hoping to find a sunning rattlesnake. But I didn't find anything of interest
> there, so I meandered down the hill, in a round abbout manner. When all of a
> sudden, a huge black eagle/turkey, grouse/or ? flushed below me and sailed
> downhill and disappeared in the thickets. It seemed too large for a grouse, at
> the time. But then again, I had never seen a male Blue Grouse, before or since.
> I've vacilated with the identity for years, and had no intention of ignoring or
> omitting that large specimen from my Okanogon County List.
>
> Although the morning was sunny, the tail looked all black, as did the upperparts
> in general. But I forced a Turkey ID on it anyway, since it seemed so large. In
> bright sun light the stark contrasts in lighting sometimes giive a false
> impression of color. I was close enough to have noticed a broad gray terminal
> tail band, but did not see one.
>
> Now that it is clear that the "Dusky" variety of "Blue" Grouse is resident in
> the Winthrop area, I can safely drop turkey as the ID (which I nver was
> comfortable with anyway).
>
> I must have put anyone reading this far to sleep by now.
>
> Phil Hotlen
> Bellingham, WA
> -----------------------------
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