My wife Melissa and I just celebrated our anniversary.  That reminded me of a trip we took to Wyoming years ago on our anniversary.  That morning, I was delighted to see a Dusky Grouse walking around right outside our cabin.  It was a surprise because of how secretive most grouse are, and I felt lucky to see one at all that week.  It turns out I shouldn’t have been surprised.  That particular grouse visited our cabin every day.  By the end of the week it was walking inside the cabin and perching on the back of a couch.  Melissa named the grouse Sue.

The Dusky Grouse is a non-migratory species, living year-round in the Rocky Mountains.  You can find them as far north as Yukon Territory in Canada and as far south as Arizona and New Mexico.  At 2.5 to 2.8 pounds, the Dusky Grouse weighs about twice as much as Pennsylvania’s official state bird, the Ruffed Grouse.

The Dusky Grouse is part of a large family of pheasant-like birds, with 186 species found on all continents except for Antarctica and South America.  Three members of the family are found in Pennsylvania, including the native Wild Turkey and Ruffed Grouse, and the introduced Ring-necked Pheasant.  The Northern Bobwhite, which is much less common in Pennsylvania than it used to be, is part of a closely related family, which includes 33 species called New World Quails.