Blue grouse in the Juneau area of southeastern Alaska

We arrived in Juneau on 8 May and departed on 15 May 2007. This interval of dates provided us with 6 full days of fieldwork (9-14 May). Our goal was to visually observe as many male blue grouse (sooty grouse) 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 about 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 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.