THE SOOTY GROUSE
- the "turkey" of Mount Rainier National Park
November, Thanksgiving Day and turkey are synonymous to the average
American but in spite of the variety of birds in the Park the Sooty
Grouse is the nearest thing we have to the regal bird who annually
graces the festive boards of many American homes.
Perhaps you know the Sooty Grouse as the "hooter" for one of his
chief characteristics is the throaty hooting that is often kept up for
long periods. To some this continued vocal effort is a sign of
rain--like the continued call of the dove--but this theory is not borne
out by fact. The Sooty Grouse is a handsome bird, about the size of the
domestic hen and its dark slate or "sooty" color is finely mottled with
grey and brown. Thus, like many other of Nature's children, it finds
its chief protection in the fact that it looks like the region in which
it lives. We find it in meadows between 4000 and 6000 feet, strutting
about in the huckleberry patches or perched on a gnarled limb of a
Mountain Hemlock surveying the passer-by with a calm deliberation that
bespeaks of a total absence of fear.
He has two very close relatives in the Park--the Ptarmigan of the
high alpine slopes and the Oregon Ruffed Grouse of the lower
elevations.
