Blue grouse
Dendragapus obscurus
Identification Tips:
- Medium-sized, stocky, round-winged, chicken-like bird
- Long, squarish tail
Adult male:
- Yellow to orange comb over eye
- Yellow or purple-red (Rocky Mountain ssp.) neck sac, inflated in mating
display, surrounded by white feathers
- Entirely dark plumage with faint mottling about back and upperwings
- Gray terminal band on tail (absent in northern Rocky Mountain birds)
Adult female:
- Brown plumage with dark brown and white marking to underparts
- Brown tail with grayish terminal band
Similar species:
Male Spruce Grouse has a breast barred with white, a barred back and a
brown terminal band on the tail. Female Spruce Grouse has a narrow rusty
terminal band on the tail and white barring on the underparts. Browner
Ruffed Grouse has a black subterminal band on the tail and more white on the
underparts.