Landbirds

While most bird species may take to the sky and others may find home on the water, landbirds prefer to stay on the ground. Landbirds, such as quail, pheasants, and grouse, are known to walk more than fly, and often nest in tall grasses or shallow depressions on the ground. Generally, males of this group have flashy and colorful feathers for attracting females, which they show off in elaborate displays during the breeding season. Females, on the other hand, are typically duller in color for camouflage while incubating eggs on a nest. Listen for the low cooing of a male sharp-tailed grouse or look for the mating dance displays of the male ring-necked pheasant during breeding season. Landbirds can be a delight to find on the forest floors or open fields around Lake Roosevelt.

 

Common Landbirds at Lake Roosevelt

 

Male California quail

© Gary Lindquist

California Quail

Callipepla californica

• Plump, short-necked bird with a small head and bill, short, broad wings, and square tail. Both sexes have a comma-shaped feathers projecting forward from the forehead, longer in males than females

• Adult males are rich gray and brown, with a black face outlined with bold white stripes. Females are a plainer brown and lack facial markings. Both sexes have a pattern of white, creamy, and chestnut scales on the belly

• Lives in chaparral, sagebrush, oak woodlands, and foothill forests

• Mainly eats seeds, as well as leaves, flowers, catkins, grain, berries, acorns, and invertebrates such as caterpillars, beetles, mites, millipedes, and snails

 

Male Columbian sharp-tailed grouse

USFWS/Rick Bohn

Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse

Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus

• Chickenlike bird with small head, small bill, short legs, and pointed tail

• Mottled overall in brown, white, and black, with white undertail and belly; feathered nostrils and legs; both sexes have orange comb over the eye; purple air sacs are visible on a male’s neck during courtship displays

• During courtship displays, males spread their wings, lower their head, and point their tail upwards; while moving with stuttering steps and frequent direction changes, they inflate their purple throat sacs, rattle their tails, and vocalize with barks, coos, pops, and gobbles

• Found in sagebrush-steppe grassland

• Feeds on seeds, buds, leaves, berries, green shoots, and insects, depending on seasonal availability

• Identified as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Washington state in 1998 due to declining populations numbers

 

Ruffed grouse

© Eric Johnston

Ruffed Grouse

Bonasa umbellus

• Dappled reddish-brown or gray-brown body with slight crest, fan-shaped, black-banded tail, barred flanks, and black 'ruffs' on sides of neck

• Lives in deciduous and mixed forests with scattered clearings and dense undergrowth

• Feeds on vegetation, including leaves, buds, and fruits of ferns, shrubs, and woody plants

• Males display for females by standing on logs, rocks, or low dirt mounds, puffing up crest, ruff, and tail to nearly double its normal size and beating its wings to create a rapid-fire drumming sound

 

Male ring-necked pheasant

USFWS/Tom Koerner

Ring-necked Pheasant

Phasianus colchicus

• Large game bird with long neck and tail. Males have green head, white collar, and copper-colored body plumage with black and white spots. Females are brown overall, with black markings on back and wings

• Prefers to live in open fields interspersed with hedges, marshes, woodland borders, and brushy groves

• Diet includes seeds, grasses, leaves, roots, wild fruits and nuts, and insects

• Males court females with a variety of displays such as strutting or running; spreading his tail and the wing closest to her while erecting the red wattles around his eyes and the feather-tufts behind his ears

 

Male wild turkey

NPS/Albert Myran

Wild Turkey

Meleagris gallopavo

• Large, plump birds with small, un-feathered heads on long, slim necks, long legs, and wide, rounded tails; dark overall with a bronze-green iridescence; wings are dark, boldly barred with white; rump and tail feathers are broadly tipped with rust or white; bare skin of the head and neck varies from red to blue to gray

• Both sexes can grow an average of 43–45 inches in length, with a wingspan of 49–56 inches, weighing 88–381 oz (5.5–23 lbs)

•  Lives year-round in open forests with interspersed clearings

• Forages in flocks for plant matter on the ground, including acorns, tree nuts, seeds, berries, sedges, and grasses

 

• Wild Turkey (gobble)

  
  

  Wild Turkey gobble from a male recorded at the Alluvial Fan in Rocky Mountain National Park.

  Credit / Author:

  J. Job

  Date created:

  10/14/2020