Blue grouse along the central coast of British Columbia

George Barrowclough and Jonas Lai arrived in British Columbia from New York on 11 May 2008 and I joined them in British Columbia from Washington the next day. The three of us arrived in Terrace on the evening of the 13th. We did fieldwork in the Terrace area between 13 and 18 May (Fig. 1). We then drove to Stewart and worked in that area between 19 and 21 May. We drove to Bella Coola between 22 and 23 May where we worked between 23 and 25 May. Following fieldwork, I made it home to Washington early on the 26th and George and Jonas made it back to New York on the 28th.

Our goal was to observe as many male blue grouse (sooty grouse, Dendragapus fuliginosus) as possible. We found likely areas by talking with local experts, biologists, and bird watchers, and by searching potential areas and listening for hooting. All birds were approached on foot from the nearest roads (usually at least 1 km away). An effort was made to get within 50 m of the bird before a recording of the female aggressive call was played in the area. The purpose of the ‘playback’ was to find a blue grouse male that was quiet and/or to encourage a blue grouse male to become more active so that it could be observed. Without the playback, it is likely that fewer males would have been observed. The playback was also used to evaluate the responsiveness of males to this recording.