Day 300: As with many bird species which exhibit morphologic variations from one side of the country to the other, Dendragapus obscurus is technically a Blue Grouse in "Sooty" form. Its eastern and interior counterpart is the Dusky Grouse. The differences are most obvious in the males. Sooty's tailfeathers are tipped in grey whereas Dusky's tail is almost solid black. In mating display, the air sacs on the sides of Sooty's neck will be yellow; in Dusky, they are purplish-red. The females are quite similar, with Sooty being perhaps a little darker. Where the ranges of the two subspecies intersect, they intergrade.
Last week on a hike above Paradise, I heard a grouse drumming in the same area where I encountered this one a few days ago, but couldn't spot the bird. This female was impossible to miss. She was determined not to relinquish the trail even after Joe and I had gathered several visitors behind us while we photographed her. We'd move ahead a foot, and she'd do likewise, invariably stopping in a shady spot which made photography difficult. At one point, we expected her to head downhill through the meadow, but instead, she ran, skitter-skitter-skitter through a sunny patch on pavement, only veering off trail when she came to a small rocky wash. Even then, she remained a mere six feet from us as we passed her, and then returned to picking and eating wildflowers.
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