Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Spruce Grouse Post
Date: Jul 31 20:23:59 2006
From: vogelfreund at comcast.net - vogelfreund at comcast.net


=====================
7/31/06

Hi Fred and Tweeters,

I sure wish some real experts on Spruce Grouse would chime in.

I thought maybe the humid forest corridor along Ross Lake might have isolated the population of Spruce Grouse in the National Park near the border, from the main population to the east (Hart's Pass area & Manning Provincial Park). But from what you described, maybe there is a continuous range, going around the top of Ross Lake in Canada.

I even got a poor quality photo of the Manning chicks, taken with a 110 pocket camera (1987). But I don't know where I stashed it or the naegative. The situation was thus: I was riding in the back of someone else's car (on a field trip), when the camper truck ahead of us stopped for no apparent reason. Then we saw a mother grouse and a line of chicks crossing in front of the truck ahead of us. Thhen we all got out and went closer to see the grouse, which we were pretty sure were Spruce Grouse. The last chick froze in the middle of the road, and finally the driver got out and picked the plump little chick up and carried it over the the side, where the last of the Grouse family could still be seen. They disappeared into loose undergrowth in what I guess was Lodgepole Pine woodland (near the RV campground).

Phil Hotlen
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Fred.Chancey at comcast.net
> Phil,
> On the Saturday after the 4th, I was fishing the Upper Skagit at Chittenden Bar
> above Ross Lake. As I walked out of the river, I got into one of those coveys
> of grouse that seem to be made up of several families. There was more than one
> adult female and a bunch of, more than twelve, young birds. I was in an alder
> thicket right at the river. The day was hot and the ground wet. I thought they
> were ruffed grouse, but they weren't marked right. They were not big enough to
> be Sooty-- I have to get used to writing that. But, more importantly they were
> reddish. After reading your post I looked up the Franklin's and I'd say they
> were. However, I'm squemish about the sighting since they will be my life
> birds.
>
> I hadn't done my home work very carefully because I didn't think they were near.
>
> I guess I'm asking how bound to the evergreen forest Spruce Grouse are because
> there were firs and other evergreens nearby. Any help would be welcome.
>
> Thanks for your tip.
>
> Fred Chancey
Eugene, OR


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Subject: Spruce Grouse Post
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