ML510304241
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
- Sounds
- Call
- Playback
- Playback not used
Media notes
Soft calls just audible at the beginning and end of recording
Observation details
Lifer! First one caught my eye because it happened to be walking around behind a bunch of mostly bare but very dense group of bushes. I had to slow down, then reverse the car a bit to come back and see there were two others perched in those bushes. The one closest to the road and that I watched the longest was in a Blue Elder and ate a few of the berries. They were pretty clearly mid-sized gamefowl even while driving past. Better looks showed mostly brown and white plumage with some speckling on the breast, thin, crisp white streaks over some darker spots on the coverts, a buffy throat, a brown, buff, and almost black patterned ring around the neck, a scant but tallish peaked crest, and a bold, dark subterminal tailband. The only vocalizations I heard were some very soft coo-like calls that came in muffled pairs. I have now seen three species of grouse, and all three were seen when I "wasn't birding". Those quotation marks are obviously pretty heavy because I'm never really not birding, but this was the first time I actually had an active eBird checklist running when I came across the little fowl, despite also actively driving. This isn't the first time I've had this thought, but I still can't decide which I like better: the rewarding payoff of seeing a bird either diligently chased or carefully and knowledgeably planned for, or the utter surprise of coming across something neither expected nor seriously looked for. Part of the reason this was such a surprise is I didn't actually decide to make this little birding detour on my way to Idaho Falls until after midnight, so there was really no time to prepare and freshen up on what all the likely options were. I had checked eBird's target species, but of course, with how little this area gets birded in winter, that wasn't any help. I'm thankful the one bird happened to be on the move as I drove past as there's no chance I ever would have seen that near-perfectly camouflaged bird in the elder.
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 148.57 KB