Joseph,

Great shots and congrats!

Anyhow, subadult males rarely display their red eye combs and the shots that I recently captured are all adult males. They rarely associate with the family this time of year. Both weekends, I saw the 5 adult males, they were all solo.

Your lovely photos consist of a female and subadult males. They are a different family than what I saw the past two weekends. I had a female with 3 subadult hens and one young male.

My image below shows the adult hen on the upper right. You can tell from her slightly longer tail and more white markings on the tail. Young hens lack the 4 to 5 white markings on the sides of the tail. You can choose the original size option to see this feature.

http://www.pbase.com/spruce_grouse/image/104475644

Great to see that they are doing well in the area. Thanks for sharing your photos and it was you that made the original discovery :)

It just shows birding in remote areas can reward you with great discoveries that most field guides or experts don't show or know. There is a great deal to learn and discover still.

Good birding,

Khanh Tran (Portland, Oregon)