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VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3

168

December 2006 Quiz

Glenn Coady

This time we are presented with aplump, ground-dwelling bird with ashort, stout bill and short legs. It isprobably safe to assume that bird­ers of all experience levels wouldinstinctively associate this bird'schicken-like appearance with itbelonging to one of the species ofupland game birds in the orderGalliformes.

There are ten species from thisorder on the Ontario bird checklist,nine from the family Phasianidae(partridges, pheasants, grouse andturkeys), namely Gray Partridge,Ring-necked Pheasant, RuffedGrouse, Spruce Grouse, WillowPtarmigan, Rock Ptarmigan, Sharp­tailed Grouse, Greater Prairie­Chicken and Wild Turkey; and onefrom the family Odontophoridae(New World quail), the NorthernBobwhite.

We can quickly eliminate theNorthern Bobwhite from consider­ation since our quiz bird has a fair­ly non-descript head pattern andboth sexes of the NorthernBobwhite show a striking head pat­tern, with a strong contrast provid­ed by a very noticeably paler super­cilium and throat that lack anystreaking.

Similarly, just about anyonewho has ever eaten Thanksgivingdinner would not be inclined tomistake our quiz bird for a Wild

ONTARIO BIRDS DECEMBER 2006

Turkey. It is simply a much biggerand more uniformly darkerplumaged bird with a much longerneck than this quiz bird.

A Ring-necked Pheasant ofeither sex should show an extreme­ly long tail, but we are unable to seethe tail on this bird. Nonetheless, itlacks the bright red facial skin andwide white neck-ring of a malepheasant as well as the general palebuff ground colour and the combi­nation of long neck and relativelysmall head which impart a "pin­headed" appearance to the femalepheasant.

Our quiz bird does not showthe obvious rufous flank barringnor the generally gray ventral col­oration of either sex of the intro­duced Gray Partridge. It certainlyalso lacks the orange face andchestnut brown belly patch of amale Gray Partridge.

Thus we have ruled out three ofthe nine species of Ontario birdsfrom the family Phasianidae: onespecies from the sub-familyMeleagridinae (Wild Turkey); andtwo from the sub-family Phasianinae(Ring-necked Pheasant and GrayPartridge). Our quiz bird is thereforeone of the six Ontario grouse speciesbelonging to the sub-familyTetraoninae.

The grouse most easily elimi­nated are the Willow Ptarmigan and

Rock Ptarmigan. Adults of bothptarmigan species are extensivelywhite in the non-breeding season,quite unlike our quiz bird. MaleWillow Ptarmigan in the breedingseason show a solidly rufous headand neck and have extensivelyunmarked white bellies and under­tail. Male Rock Ptarmigan in thebreeding season have a head, neckand back that are a variegated mix­ture of black, brown and white bar­ring. They also retain an extensivelywhite belly and undertail in thebreeding season. Additionally, adultptarmigan in all seasons also usual­ly show some of their white flightfeathers on the folded wing, but thisis not useful for our quiz bird pho­tograph as we are unable to see theflight feathers. Juveniles of both

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Ontario ptarmigan species aremore uniformly dark than this bird.

Likewise, the Spruce Grouse isnot a good fit either. Adult maleSpruce Grouse have black throatsand breasts with large white spotson the belly and very distinctivecomet-shaped streaking on theflanks, completely unlike our quizbird. Female Spruce Grouse havebreasts that are extensively linearlybarred with black, gold and white,inconsistent with the scallopedbreast pattern seen on this bird.They also show extensive pointedwhite spots on their flanks. Bothsexes of Spruce Grouse also showsmall whitish lines on the head run­ning laterally back from both aboveand below the eye, which are notapparent on this bird.

VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3

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Although our bird has a shortcrested appearance slightly similarto a Ruffed Grouse, that species iseasily ruled out by the lack of verylong and bold dark barring on theflanks. Ruffed Grouse also do nothave a scalloped breast pattern likethis bird. Our quiz bird is also sim­ply not a good colour match foreither the gray or rufous morphs ofthe Ruffed Grouse.

Having ruled out all the otherOntario Galliformes, we have thus

narrowed the possibility down toone of the two Ontario species ofthe genus Tympanuchus, the Sharp­tailed Grouse and the GreaterPrairie-Chicken.

Quite apart from the fact that ithas been extirpated from Ontariofor over forty years, we can easilyexclude the Greater Prairie­Chicken. It would show a complete­ly and evenly barred body all over,a pale throat, and elongated neckpinnae should be visible.

Our quiz bird is, therefore, aSharp-tailed Grouse, and althoughwe are unable to see its pale, cen­trally-pointed tail in this photo­graph, we are able to see many ofthe key field marks that reliablyidentify it: a slight crest, a scallopedbreast pattern, large white spots inthe black and gold wing coverts, andperhaps easiest to discern, a palebelly and flanks with obvious darkchevrons.

I photographed this adultfemale Sharp-tailed Grouse at theGore Bay airport lek on ManitoulinIsland on 23 April 2006. My thanksto Steve Hall and the many otherFriends of Misery Bay for the dedi­cation they put forward in sharingtheir knowledge of this lek, to thebenefit of so many Ontario birders.

Glenn Coady, 604 - 60 Mountview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6P 2L4E-mail: glenn_coady@hotmail.com

ONTARlO BIRDS DECEMBER 2006