EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Blue Grouse in the Shadows

Blue Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus)
Cedar River Watershed, Washington

Explanation:  "Hiding" 15 feet up this Douglas-fir tree, in the Cascade Mountains of northern Washington state, is this solitary Blue Grouse.  He sits motionless, peering at me from the shadows of the foliage ... thinking he is hidden from view, obscured, as his scientific name implies -- Dendragapus obscurus.

Actually, with his bark-colored plumage, this Blue Grouse probably is relatively camouflaged and safe from hawks and other predators.  Blue Grouse often sit motionless in trees when they think they have been detected.

This is the sooty-colored form of the Blue Grouse, found along the Pacific of North America.  We are in the protected Cedar River Watershed that is managed to provide drinking water for the City of Seattle in northwest Washington, and also a source of timber for people and forest habitat for wildlife.  The City is trying to manage the watershed in balance for these and other potentially competitive and conflicting goals.  

Blue Grouse populations are influenced by forest management practices.  For example, they do not use clearcuts in the north part of their range.  Their populations fluctuate, often erratically and unpredictably.  

Thus, their name obscurus can be interpreted in several ways (each a definition of obscure):  Blue Grouse are dark-colored; they hide motionless in the shadows; and their population ecology is not well understood.  Although well-studied, not particularly imperiled, and even hunted, Blue Grouse nonetheless are indeed obscure.

Blue Grouse are larger than their Spruce Grouse cousins.  Blue Grouse are known for their fluttering, hooting and grunting pair-bond displays.  Their diet consists of leaves and some fruits and insects.  Juveniles feed mostly on insects, presumably for the higher nutrient and protein content.  Conifer needles are the primary food over winter.