Frankengrouse

This morning I surveyed a lek and saw this.



Front view



Back view



This hybrid Greater Sage-Grouse/Sharptail Grouse had been found at this lek last year and I made sure I got out to see it this year. It was very interesting watching the behavior of this bird compared to the sage-grouse he was hanging out with.
I could hear him in the dark before I could see him although the strange garbled sound was merely something different at that point. As the light got better I was able to watch him roam around the lek unchallenged by the sage-grouse as he chased around to where the female grouse were arriving. He was ignored by both the male and female sage-grouse as he strutted around until he stepped over some invisible line and was promptly thumped by one of the male sage-grouse.
His plumage was an interesting mix of both species. The breast feathers of his upper breast had the dark arrowhead pattern of a sharptail, but puffed out and looking spiked like the worn feathers on the breast of a sage-grouse without the yellow cervical apteria. There was no really apparent purple apteria on his neck but the neck feathers were dark and appeared splayed to where the apteria should be. The overall plumage was much like that described for two hybrid specimens previously described in Montana (Eng 1971).
His display was an interesting mix of behaviors to match his plumage. He began his display with a half-hearted foot stomping while leaning forward like a Sharp-tailed Grouse but then he stood up and leaned back to pull his wings along his side like a sage-grouse. His vocalizations were a short choking gurgle. He also tried to chuckle like a sharptail but that sounded off too.
He certainly tried hard. He displayed in earnest all around the lek, but no one seemed interested. He was at least able to bully some of the younger sage-grouse and I watched in drive off at least one individual a few times.



My friend Krissy thought the Frankengrouse label was a bit harsh and suggested I should call it "Pat" but that reference implies gender confusion and this bird was certainly all male - a mish-mash of parts and misunderstood so I am sticking with Frankengrouse.

Eng, R. L. 1971. Two hybrid Sage Grouse x Sharp-tailed Grouse from central Montana. Condor. 43: 491–493.

Grouse Comparison

Below are three photos to compare the appearance of the hybrid Sharp-tailed Grouse/Greater Sage-Grouse with both of it's parent species.


Sharp-tailed Grouse


Hybrid Grouse


Greater Sage-Grouse

More Grouse

A few more grouse photos until I get my computer back from the repair shop and can have a bit more time to actually compose a decent post. First I had the Sharptail Grouse, then the hybrid grouse, now it is time for the big guys - the Greater Sage-Grouse.

He's Back!

They hybrid Sharp-tailed Grouse x Greater Sage-Grouse is back again on the lek this spring. My Dad watched him earlier this month and told me he was holding his own with the larger sage-grouse this year, rather than getting run around as I noted last year.
Last weekend I was finally able to go see him for myself and it was quite a change from the previous year. He had his own section of the lek where he displayed and he was able to maintain his position even when challenged. He is at least 3 years old now and it will be interesting to see how many springs we continue to find him here.



He still sounds like a duck with a cold and dances funny.





As I noted last year, this bird has no colored cervical apteria (area without feathers on the neck). Neither the yellow patches in the front like a sage-grouse nor the purple apteria on the side of the neck like a Sharp-tailed Grouse. However, this year I noticed that there was a very slight purple tinge to the skin at the base of the feathers on the side of the neck where the purple apteria is located on a Sharp-tailed Grouse. You can barely see it in the photo above.