Subject: [Tweeters] Harts Pass-- unidentified grouse
Date: Oct 12 11:25:12 2008
From: Wayne Weber - contopus at telus.net


Louise and Tweeters,



If you saw a grouse on the Lost River Road, and you are certain that it was
not a Ruffed Grouse, it could only be a Dusky Grouse in that area (low
altitude, Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine forest). Spruce Grouse generally do
not occur below about 4000 feet altitude, and prefer subalpine spruce/fir
forest (or less often, lodgepole pine forest).



The tail pattern should be a better field mark than feather patterns on the
body-entire tail blackish in Dusky Grouse, only a band at the tip black in
Ruffed Grouse. If it were a life bird for me, I'd probably prefer to see the
bird on the ground rather than flying, but if the tail was all blackish, it
would have to be a Dusky Grouse.



If you're still not certain of the ID, be advised that Dusky Grouse are
common throughout the Methow Valley, and shouldn't be hard to find if you
can visit between April and July next year. Two good spots (from my
experience and others) are Pearrygin Lake State Park and the vicinity of the
Sun Mountain Lodge.



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net







From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Louise
Rutter
Sent: October-10-08 9:40 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Harts Pass



A very brief report on today's birding as I am sleepy....



I had a female grouse fly across in front of the car about 5 miles beyond
Mazama on the Lost River Road. I can safely say it wasn't a ruffed grouse,
as the whole bird was densely mottled and missing those bold flank stripes,
but I'm not well enough up on chickens to make the call between dusky and
spruce from that brief side view - a pity, as either would have been a lifer
for me!



The NORTHERN HAWK OWL remains in the burned area around the Meadows Creek
campground road. Two of us found it at around 8.15am for 5 minutes, then
four of us tracked it again briefly about an hour later. The bird tends to
sit at or near the top of burned snags.



We also had an adult GOLDEN EAGLE fly-by and a juvenile NORTHERN GOSHAWK
posed on a couple of occasions. Non-raptors included a couple of small (3-4
birds) PINE GROSBEAK flocks.



This morning at 8.15, the temperature up there was about 22 degrees, and by
11 the air temperature was still 25, though feeling much warmer in the sun.
There was basically no snow up to the Meadows Creek campground turn-off -
the Meadows Creek road itself had an inch or so, no more, and there were a
couple of inches up to Slate Peak. Stunning weather and beautiful views.



Louise Rutter

Kirkland