Subject: [Tweeters] Five Woodpecker Day
Date: Jun 3 11:56:50 2009
From: Kevin Purcell - kevinpurcell at pobox.com


In Wenas in an area where the ranges do overlap. So I don't think you
can say either from range.

http://www.wenasaudubon.org/Directions.htm

Dusky

http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id=122

> The ranges of Dusky Grouse and Sooty Grouse meet and overlap on the
> east slope of the Cascades, creating a zone of confusion between
> the two species.
>


Sooty

http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id=489

They also hybridize to annoy listers :-)

So it's down to the field marks ... and a belief you are not looking
at a hybrid.

> The most useful field mark for the male Sooty is the broad gray
> terminal band on the dark tail; the male Dusky?s tail is all-dark
> with no more than a touch of gray at the very tips of the tail
> feathers. The air sacs on the male?s neck, visible when expanded in
> display, are yellow in Sooty and purplish-red in Dusky. Females of
> the two species are nearly impossible to separate in the field,
> although Sooty females are slightly darker and more uniformly brown
> (less gray) on average.


"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition"

On Jun 3, 2009, at 9:52 AM, Ian Paulsen wrote:

> HI:
> Shouldn't that be Sooty Grouse?

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com