Blue Grouse - Dendragapus obscurus

Characteristics
Range
Habitat
Diet
Life Cycle
Behavior

Classification

Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Dendragapus

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Characteristics

The blue grouse is 15 to 21 inches in length. The male blue grouse is gray to bluish-gray with a red to yellow-orange comb over its eyes. It has a yellow neck sac surrounded by white. The female is spotted brown with a dark tail. Male blue grouse in the rockies have a red neck sac instead of a yellow one.

Range

The blue grouse can be found from southeastern Alaska and the Northwest territories south to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.

Habitat

The blue grouse can be found in bush areas in coastal rain forests, burned areas, mountain forests and subalpine forest clearings.

Diet

In warm months, the blue grouse eats seeds, berries and insects. In the winter the blue grouse eats conifer needles. Some blue grouse are short distance migrators and, depending on where the food is, will travel to either higher or lower elevations.

Life Cycle

The female blue grouse lays five to ten eggs in a scrape lined with pine needles and grass. The nest is usually hidden under a bush, log, rocky overhang or small tree. The female incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks. The chicks hatch after 25 days and soon begin foraging for food. They fledge in seven to ten days.

Behavior

During mating season the male blue grouse will often perch on a log or post and and call out with a loud booming hoot that can be heard for miles. The comb over his eyes will also stand up and he will fan out his tail and puff out his neck to display his neck sac.