With help from NYSDEC rangers, participants on a recent Federation of New York State Bird Clubs field trip were able to spend time with a territorial male Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) in a tract of relatively undisturbed spruce forest in the Central Adirondacks.

Figure 1. The species has gone through a sharp decline in New York State, primarily because of logging, increasing pressure from recreational land usage and maturation of remaining Spruce (Picea sp.) Forests. It is thought that 300 or so birds remain in the State, all within the Adirondacks. Photo by Angus Wilson©, 5th June 1999.

Figure 2. Detail of the undertail showing the neat white spots and beige tips to the undersides of the tail feathers. There are some six races of Spruce Grouse, separated mainly by differences in the tail patterns. Birds from New York belong to the race F. c. canace. Photo by Angus Wilson©, 5th June 1999.

Figure 3. Detail of bright red combs and black breast. Photo by Angus Wilson©, 5th June 1999.