Observers: Ted Williams
Email: ted@usamedia.tv
Remote Name: 72.47.27.61
Date: 07/04/2006
Time: 01:13 PM -0400
Monday 7/3/06 at 4pm: The Male Blue Grouse was on top of an old living 80’ Ponderosa at 8,800’ giving its display call of a series of single and occasional double hoots. The location is 1 mile ESE of Sherwin Lakes; on a direct line 1/3 of the way from Sherwin Lakes to Laurel Lakes. Yellow-orange above the eye, dark sooty color overall and big bodied, distinctive light gray tipped long dark tail. It was not physically in its full display. 1) The tips on the secondary wing coverts, and the belly feathers were dark and NOT very distinguishable. 2) The display call was much higher in pitch than the sample given on the Cornell University bird calls that I listened to in the field for direct comparison. 3) The call could be heard from quite a distance. These last three observations indicate the Pacific Blue Grouse subspecies; but the clincher, the air sacs, were not visible (purplish for Interior race and yellow for the Pacific race). Because of this, the best I can do is call this a “possible.”