Dendragapus Totally Explained

Everything about Dendragapus totally explained

The genus Dendragapus, sometimes called "Blue Grouse," contains two closely related species of grouse which have often been treated as a single variable taxon; the Dusky Grouse Dendragapus obscurus and the Sooty Grouse Dendragapus fuliginosus.

Description

"Blue Grouse" are large grouse that inhabit highland regions of western North America, the Sooty Grouse in the Pacific Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada, and the Dusky Grouse in the Rocky Mountains. These two taxa were originally regarded as separate species, but were considered conspecific for much of the twentieth century. However, in 2006 the American Ornithologists' Union re-split them, whose results supported the earlier work of Brooks (1929) who regarded the two taxa as separate species based on morphology, behavior and vocalizations. The precise ranges of the two species are well-defined in the south, separated by extensive areas of unsuitable forest-free habitat, but somewhat uncertain in the north of the range of the genus where there's no separation; Barrowclough et al.'s study didn't include these northern populations. Adults have a long square tail, gray at the end (lighter in the Sooty Grouse). Adult males are mainly dark (especially Sooty Grouse) with a yellow (Sooty Grouse) or purplish (Dusky Grouse) throat air sac surrounded by white, and a yellow (Sooty Grouse) or yellow to red (Dusky Grouse) wattle over the eye during display. Adult females of both species are mottled brown with dark brown and white marks on the underparts. Their breeding habitat is the edges of conifer and mixed forests in mountainous regions of western North America, from southeastern Alaska and Yukon south to California and New Mexico. Their range is closely associated with that of various conifers. The nest is a scrape on the ground concealed under a shrub or log.
Both species have healthy populations, except for some population decline and habitat loss of the Sooty Grouse at the southern end of its range in southern California.

Fossils

Late Pleistocene fossil species that have been described are Dendragapus gilli (western and west-central USA), initially placed in a distinct genus Palaeotetrix, and Dendragapus lucasi (known only from Fossil Lake, USA), although as the Falcipennis grouse were formerly included in Dendragapus, it isn't completely certain that these fossils are correctly assigned here.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Dendragapus'.

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