Subject: [Tweeters] Sooty, Dusky, and Ruffled grouse display
Date: Apr 27 18:08:14 2007
From: khanh tran - khanhbatran at hotmail.com


Hi Tweets!

Thought I forward this information on from my sooty vs. dusky grouse
experience from the last week. Hope you find the information to be of
educational value and reading enjoyment.

This morning, I had a nice, eight mile or so bike ride around the top of
Larch Mountain (Corbett, OR) and surrounding forest roads. As an
alternative, I decided to take my mountain bike and explore on smaller
wheels in the event that the gates are closed. The roads are snow free but
gates from Milepost 10 to top is still closed. Biking is a great way for
birding by ear.

It was not extremely birdy, but I was rewarded with a displaying SOOTY
GROUSE and RUFFED GROUSE in two separate locations. I was really a hoot to
watch as it was the first time for me to see both species fully display.

The haunting, low hoots of the sooty male were very frustrating to pinpoint
the location of the birds. They are true ventriloquist as the volume of the
hoots has the same intensity 30 feet away or as far as 500 feet. I have
read that the sound can carry as far as one mile under ideal conditions. No
wonder in the past, I had such a tough time finding them unless they were
right off the road. Many times in the past, I thought the birds were close
by. The duskies that I saw earlier this week were much easier to detect but
hoots only carried about 60-100 feet depending how your hearing is. All
three duskies that I saw, displayed on the ground and at one point, one male
flew on a tree as more people approached and resume his display. I think
both species choice of displaying on the ground (more prevalent with
duskies) versus tree canopies is not always absolute in my case.

I first detected a series of low hoots from one male about 500 feet before
seeing the gaudy male displaying on the ground and charging an elusive
female. I have seen the birds on two consecutive days at 10:00 AM and 7:00
AM, respectively. Although somewhat ungraceful and clumsy during flight and
landing, the gorgeous male made up for it while he gracefully performed his
repertoire along the thin branches of several trees with perfect balance.
He constantly exposed his bright yellow cervical sac and color of his bright
eye brows increased with intensity. It had a vaudeville quality to it.

During all his display on the trees, he was about 10-15 feet from the top.
He was vigorously chasing the female, flying from tree to tree. Even in
poor light and at a distance, I was able to easily see the yellow sac and
bright, light gray terminal tail band. It was clearly the paler form of the
Pacific Sooty grouse as illustrated by Sibley's. Its tail was much rounder
at the edges compared to the duskies.

I was able to get less than desirable photos as the lighting was extremely
poor and did not want to disrupt the birds. The male was extremely skittish.
Nevertheless, I got to watch and study the birds for at least 20 minutes
while sitting down on a stump.

On another forest road, I immediately heard the drumming of a male RUFFED
GROUSE. I did not know how far his drumming carried but tried to follow it.
It took me a while but my perseverance and patience allowed me to see him
drum on a small fallen log at a distance. The drumming would start and stop
about every 3 minutes or so.

As I got closer to the sound, I decided to move in slowly when he restarted
drumming and stopped when he ceased drumming. This was in hopes to prevent
him from flushing or disrupting his routine and at the same time, muffled my
noisy movement through the brushy area while he drummed. The drumming
starts out slowly and suddenly accelerates into a muffled roaring sound.

Luckily, my technique worked! It was AWESOME to see him display. During
his display, he completely spread out his beautiful tail feathers. It was a
treat to see.

It is interesting to note that I have learned to id the following grouse
(spruce, dusky, sooty, and ruffed) by the sound of their wing beats when
they fly or flush. The ruffed have the most explosive sound followed by the
two "blue" grouse species, and lastly but my favorite, the spruce grouse.
Lastly, the spruce grouse are tamest and the quietest for clucking noises.
On many occasions, I have walked right by them and turn around and the birds
were just feet away from where I previously walked minutes prior.

I never thought I would be so interested in some chicken like birds but, the
grouse have really grown on me. Being able to watch their behavior close up
has been fascinating.

Good birding to you,

Khanh Tran (Portland, Oregon)

http://www.pbase.com/spruce_grouse/root