Blue Grouse
Dendragapus
obscurus
Fairly common throughout Cascades in conifer-dominated forests at all elevations; also in forested southwestern Kitsap County but absent from Island County. In 2006 (Auk 123:926-936), American Ornithologists’ Union split Blue Grouse into two species, Sooty Grouse (D. fuliginosus) along Pacific Coast and Dusky Grouse (D. obscurus) of Rockies and Intermountain West. Although BBA surveyors did not separate these forms, birds along and west of Cascade crest are unquestionably Sooty. Situation east of crest less clear, but birds in Wenatchee Mountains from Teanaway Basin east appear to be Dusky, and those on ridges west of Ellensburg, Sooty (M. Schroeder, pers. comm.).
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