Hello Tweetsters -- This morning as I was walking around Seward Park
with a friend, we both simultaneously noticed an odd bird ahead on the
ground. It was too large to be a typical passerine and we both at the
same time said, "That's not a duck."

As we approached, the bird flew up and over some salal that separates
the asphalt road we were walking on from the lake and landed on the
other side of the salal on a narrow strip of gravel on the lakeshore.

Unfortunately, I did not have my binoculars, and the only camera I had
was my phone camera, which was not up to the task, because the bird was
simply too far away and blending in with the gravel too well. (See link
to the picture below.)

The bird was mottled brown all over and had a skinny, stiff, not
particularly long, tail pointed up. I did not notice any red on the
head, but I never really did get a good look at the head, so it's
possible there was some red there and I just didn't see it. I did not
notice any kind of crest or comb on the head either.

My first thought was that it was either a chicken or other gallinaceous
bird, most likely Ruffed Grouse. I would tend toward Ruffed Grouse,
based on size (it seemed smaller than a chicken) and pictures that I
have since looked at.

Still, I certainly was not prepared to see a Ruffed Grouse in Seward
Park, even though the park does have appropriate habitat.

The park has been home over the years to various released critters, such
as rabbits and the famed mitred conures, so it wouldn't be shocking if
someone had released a chicken there.

In the many years my friend and I have been walking around Seward Park
in the mornings, we have never seen a bird like this there. I can't help
but wonder how long it will last there between the dogs and the coyotes
we've seen in the park.

Has anybody ever heard of Ruffed Grouse at Seward Park? And why/how
would there be Ruffed Grouse there? Or can anybody else think of what
else it might be?

You can see the photo (bird is inside the red circle) I took with my
phone camera at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/106724165563614020677/SewardParkMysteryBird?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Here are more specific directions as to where we saw this bird:

Starting at the parking lot by the art studio, walk to your left so that
you will be walking clockwise on the asphalt road that goes around the
peninsula. We saw the bird not too long after you begin walking, on the
west side of the peninsula, perhaps 200-300 feet before you get to the
pier that juts into the lake on the left.

Jane Hadley
Seattle, WA