Sooty Grouse

My prior post was on the dusky grouse, which used to be the same species as the sooty grouse when both were identified as blue grouse. The dusky grouse is found in the interior mountains of North America and the sooty grouse is found in the coastal mountains of North America. I've seen one, in the vicinity of Banner Peak in the Ansel Adams Wilderness of California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, while backpacking the Pacific Crest/ John Muir Trail from Mammoth to Yosemite Valley, on July 5, 2009, with Larry Strong, Steve Wicks and other members of their families.  Mark Wicks saw the grouse which I incorrectly identified as a ruffed grouse, which is how I identified it on iNaturalist. It was later corrected and corroborated by four other identifiers, including scottdwilson, the 2nd highest identifier of sooty grouse on iNaturalist with 1341 identifications. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male, in display, from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World.