GAP Analysis Predicted Distribution Map

Blue Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus)

Species Code: DEOB

Legend:
= Core Habitat
= Marginal Habitat

Breeding Range Map
The green area shows the predicted habitats for breeding only. The habitats were identified using 1991 satellite imagery, Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA), other datasets and experts throughout the state, as part of the Washington Gap Analysis Project. Habitats used during non-breeding months and migratory rest-stops were not mapped.

Metadata (Data about data or how the map was made)

Click to enlarge distribution map

Map with Breeding Bird Atlas records

Other maps & Information:

Breeding Bird Atlas
NatureMapping observations
during breeding season
NatureMapping observations
throughout the year

This species is common in mixed coniferous forests at all elevations throughout most of the state. They are uncommon in similar habitats in the Blue Mountains. Principally, they are found in mountainous areas, though they occur down to the coastline on the Olympic Peninsula. This Grouse is local in the Puget Trough, near Fort Lewis. They are uncommon in forests dominated by Lodgepole Pine and Engelmann Spruce in the North Cascades and Pasayten area, where the Spruce Grouse largely replaces it.

Good habitat in core areas of use included all mixed and coniferous forests and clearings in forest above the steppe zones.

The Blue Grouse exists at very low elevation forests along the coast, and in mixed forests just above the Puget Trough. In Washington, breeding bird survey data show a significant population decrease of 1.9% per year from 1966 to 1991.

Translated from the Washington Gap Analysis Bird Volume by Uchenna Bright
Text edited by Gussie Litwer
Webpage designed by Dave Lester