Tétra Ahumado

Identificación

Adults have a long square tail, light gray at the end. Adult males are mainly dark with a yellow throat air sac surrounded by white, and a yellow wattle over the eye during display. Adult females are mottled brown with dark brown and white marks on the underparts. Females have longer skinnier necks than males. The males have stouter bodies than the females.

Taxonomía

The sooty grouse has four recognized subspecies:

Nombre científico

Dendragapus fuliginosus

Autoridad

(Ridgway, 1873)

Orden

Galliformes

Familia

Fasiánidos

Género

Dendragapus

Distribución y hábitat

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. Their range is closely associated with that of various conifers. They thrive in old forests because they need diverse plants and trees. Regenerated logged or burned areas also attract the sooty grouse as long as there are plenty of bushes and shrubs to nest in. The nest is a scrape on the ground concealed under a shrub or log. Grouse mountain, a mountain that acts as the peak of Vancouver, Canada gets its name from the infamous blue grouse that lives on the mountain. The first hikers that reached the top of the mountain hunted the birds so they honored them by naming the mountain after them. This name is also attributed to the large population of the sooty grouse found on the mountain.

Migración

Vertical migration

Conservación

Sooty grouse are experiencing some population decline from habitat loss at the southern end of their range in southern California. The status of the Sooty Grouse is now classified as at risk. Currently, the species is of low conservation concern, but if a decline in old-growth forests persists the risk of endangerment will increase.

Tendencia poblacional

stable