Species: Dendragapus obscurus

Dusky Grouse

Species

Birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Galliformes

Family

Phasianidae

Genus

Dendragapus

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.795273

Classification

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Galliformes - Phasianidae - Dendragapus - that does not correspond to currently recognized subspecific boundaries.

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

Migration

true - true - false - May make seasonal upslope-downslope migrations. In Colorado, elevational changes between breeding and wintering sites were up to 671 m (median 488 m) for males, up to 760 m (median 122 m) for females; one-way migration distance was 1-29 km (median 10.5 km) in males, 0.1-28 km (median 1.0 km) for females; males departed breeding areas from late June to late July, females from late May to late September; both arrived in wintering areas from early October to mid-November (Cade and Hoffman 1993).

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

In summer feeds on a variety of berries, insects, flowers, and leaves. In the winter feeds mainly on needles and buds of conifers (Douglas-fir often important). Also eats waste grain.

Reproduction Comments

Breeding begins mid-April in south to late May in north. Female incubates 7-10, sometimes up to 16, eggs for 26 days. Nestlings precocial. Young tended by female. Yearling males often do not breed. May renest if nest destroyed.

Ecology Comments

Primarily a solitary montane species. Courting males establish a territory. In Colorado, apparently sedentary on winter range (average distance between locations 94-312 m, median 135 m, for 11 radio-marked adults) (Cade and Hoffman 1993).

Length

Weight

1188

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2007-06-27

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-25

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

RESIDENT: southern Yukon and extreme southwestern MacKenzie south through the mountains of interior British Columbia (excepy coast, southwestern, and south-central areas), southwestern Alberta, eastern Washington, and the Rocky Mountains to eastern Nevada, northern and eastern Arizona, (south to White Mountains), southwestern and north-central New Mexico, western and central Colorado, and (formerly) western South Dakota (AOU 1998, 2006).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.795273