Bird name:

Sooty Grouse

Dendragapus fuliginosus

Order

GALLIFORMES

Family

Turkeys and Grouse (Phasianidae)

Code 4

SOGR

Code 6

DENFUL

ITIS

175772

Breeding Location:

Forests, coniferous

Breeding Type:

Solitary nester, Promiscuous

Breeding Population:

Fairly common

Egg Color:

Pink buff, with small brown spots

Number of Eggs:

7 - 16

Incubation Days:

25 - 26

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Conifer needles, grasses, and leaves.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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General

Sooty Grouse: Large, chicken-like bird, dark gray to blue-gray with yellow-orange eye comb, black tail with wide pale gray terminal band. Patch of yellow skin with red veining on neck surrounded by white feathers is displayed during courtship. Female is gray-brown mottled overall, and lacks eye combs and air sacs.

Range and Habitat

Sooty Grouse: Found in southeastern Alaska to California in a narrow range between the coast and the western Rocky Mountains. One exception is an inland range in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. Prefers semi-open woodlands and mature stands of hemlock, cedar, spruce, and white fir in winter.

Breeding and Nesting

Sooty Grouse: Seven to sixteen pink buff eggs, usually spotted brown, are laid in a ground scrape lined with pine needles and grass, usually sheltered by a stump or rock. Incubation ranges from 25 to 26 days and is carried out by the female. Precocial young leave nest soon after hatching.

Foraging and Feeding

Sooty Grouse: Feeds almost exclusively on conifer needles in winter. In spring, summer, and fall, their diet includes the leaves of herbs, flowers, ferns, and conifer needles. They also eat many fruits and seeds, including cherries, currents, huckleberries, and strawberries. Forages on the ground.

Vocalization

Sooty Grouse: Male gives a series of deep hoots "whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop", increasing in tempo and volume.

Similar Species

Sooty Grouse: Male Spruce Grouse has white bars on breast, barred back, and brown terminal tail band. Female has narrow rust-brown terminal tail band, white bars on underparts. Ruffed Grouse is browner, has black subterminal tail band and more white on underparts. Dusky Grouse has thin to no gray terminal band on tail, male has yellow air sacs, red-orange combs over eyes.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Comb

Only found in male birds and consists of a colored area over the eye. A well developed comb can also signal (sexual) health to a potential mate.

Terminal band

Refers to the contrasting stripe at the tip of the tail.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America