It was just a guess - So we googled it
The biggest thing that stands out to me - it this bird is not thin like the roadrunner photos....
and..... The info says that Roadrunners don't reside about 9000 ft.....
We were at 11,800 ft......
So that was my biggest reasoning for thinking it was a ptarmigan
Now I am going to rename this bird.... Ptarmarunner!!
Ha ha
Thanks for the comments - it made us research a little!
Oh and thanks for the other comment... it may be a blue grouse... Google that too readers.... I think unknown may be on to something!
Not a road runner...but what a sweet chicken like buddy!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a blue grouse to me. With it's hair a little messed up.
ReplyDeletePersonally, regardless of the actual species of the bird, I like your name for it - or with the Blue Grouse putting its name in the pot, perhaps Blue Ptarmarunner would be better! Kinda reminds me of another blogger, Connie Kresin, who ended up with an orphan pelican (named Pelly, of course), that her family cared for a few summers ago after a flood. Her blog posts about Pelly were the first ones I read every day. Oh the adventures you have in the Rockies!
ReplyDeleteWell, we do know you aren't going to be putting it on the dining room table on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteYou've got me researching and I'm voting for a Dusky Grouse female!
ReplyDeleteMy Guy spends hours with his guide books trying to identify the birds he shoots. Then he usually reaches out to a couple of guys at work who are biologists. I never knew there were so many variations of birds!
ReplyDeleteOf course, the elusive Ptarmarunner! (Spell check doesn't like it.)
ReplyDeleteLove your blog...one time it's quilts and another is landscape. It's always good humor. Thankful for you.
Hugs
Dusky Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) is large, dark forest grouse of inland regions of the western U.S. and Canada. Until recently, this and the Sooty Grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus) were considered to make up one species under the name Blue Grouse (also Dendragapus obscurus. My reading of the range maps is that the Dusky is in the central mountainous west (e.g. Colorado) while sooty is further west (like the Sierra).
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