Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 09:26:15 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "J.B. Churchill" Subject: Re: Ruffed Grouse morphs in Maryland Comments: cc: bboone@mail.gcnet.net In-Reply-To: <14b.5fe3b04.29519d08@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Marshall, My impression is that all the Grouse I have ever seen in Western MD (although most sightings consist or whirring wings and a glimpse) have been Red Phase. To support this impression is that on a recent trip to the Adirondacks I got my first good look at a Ruffed Grouse in Hamilton County NY. I looked it over carefully because I was hoping to see my first ever "Spruce Grouse" but it was not to be. The gray tail on the NY bird is what stuck out most and I am 90 % sure that I have never seen one like it before in all my birding experience. I think that Jon Boone shares my opinion on this (judging from recent conversations with him). I'll copy him on this reply in case he doesn't monitor the list. I welcome the opinions of others on this since I only recently started actually paying attention to the color phases of the grouse I see in the state. J.B. At 02:34 AM 12/19/2001 -0500, you wrote: >Marylanders, > > I have a question for those of you in western MD (J.B.? Ray Kiddy?) >who get a chance to see Ruffed Grouse more often than I do. Ruffed Grouse is >known to occur in two color morphs, red and gray, which should be distinctive >enough to be identified in the field. I have never paid much attention to >which types I have seen in Maryland and I've probably seen fewer than 10 >grouse total in the state. I have an impression of which form is more common >but can't really recall for sure. > Do any of you have notes, photos, opinions, or impressions of which >form is more common in our state? Have you definitely seen both types? Is one >type more common in Garrett County and another in the Valley & Ridge areas of >Allegany, Washington, and Frederick Counties? > I'd also be interested to know if anyone has photos of Ruffed Grouse >from MD which might shed some light on this question. > A paper written Steven Feldstein (Feldstein, S.B. 1997. An annotated >list of the field identifiable and non-field identifiable bird subspecies and >morphs of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Birds 11:178-186.) says that both forms >occur in Pennsylvania but that the red morph is more common... > >Best, > >Marshall Iliff > >*********************** >Marshall Iliff >miliff@aol.com >Annapolis, MD >************************ > >======================================================================= >To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >======================================================================= ====================================================== John B. Churchill, M.S. Home (304) 292-5072 GIS Analyst Work (304) 293-4832 West Virginia University ext. 4458 Natural Resource Analysis Center Fax (304) 293-3752 P.O. Box 6108 Morgantown, WV 26506-6108 webpage: http://www.nrac.wvu.edu/users/jbc ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================