Day 300: As a birder, I know that grouse frequently perch in trees, but it always amuses me to see one of these fat brown "chickens" take wing from the side of the road to land on a branch. I half-expect the ungainly thing to pitch off the other side in a cartoon-like demonstration of Newton's First Law, "an object in motion tends to remain in motion," yet it compensates for its mass. The claws dig into the rough bark, perhaps the wings flutter a little, and the bird comes to rest with barely a wobble. Blue (Sooty) Grouse are relatively common in Mount Rainier National Park. I've been surprised by them on many occasions when a piece of "trail" ten feet in front of me suddenly lifted off with an enormous clatter of wings. Their colouration camouflages them well against dirt and gravel or, for that matter, against the grey-brown bark of conifer boughs. There is some confusion regarding the proper scientific name of this species, and field guides may have it listed as "Blue Grouse," separated further into "Sooty" (Pacific) and "Dusky" (interior) forms. The difference is only noticeable in males of Dendragapus obscurus; females of both forms are visually similar.
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