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Spruce Grouse
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Ron Austing Courtesy of eNature |
Species
description provided by eNature
Description
15-17" (38-43 cm). A dark, chicken-like bird with a fan-shaped
tail. Male dusky gray-brown, with red comb over eye, black throat
and upper breast, white-spotted sides, chestnut-tipped tail. Birds
in northern Rockies and Cascades (known as "Franklin's Grouse")
have white tips on upper tail coverts and lack chestnut tail tip.
Females of both forms browner; underparts barred with brown.
Voice
Males give a low krrrrk, krrrk, krrk, krrk, krrk, said to be the
lowest-pitched vocal sound of any North American bird. Females produce
low clucking notes.
Habitat
Coniferous forests, especially those with a mixture of spruce and
pine, edges of deep forests and bogs.
Nesting
8-11 buff eggs, plain or spotted with brown, in a hollow lined with
grass and leaves concealed on the ground under low branches of a
young spruce.
Range
Resident from Alaska, northern Manitoba, Quebec, and Nova Scotia
south to Washington, Wyoming, central Manitoba, Michigan, and northern
New England.
Discussion
This northern grouse is extraordinarily tame and can occasionally
be approached and caught; hence its local name, "Fool Hen."
It is generally a quiet bird, thinly distributed in its habitat
and therefore difficult to find. Its principal foods are the needles
and buds of evergreens, although young birds consume large quantities
of insects. Spruce Grouse are generally found singly or in small
family groups, quietly picking their way over the forest floor or
sitting in dense conifers.
