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Spruce Grouse : Spruce Grouse Egtuuk A few years ago I remember skiing above Marshall and stopping in the woods out of the wind to enjoy the warm sunny spring day. I sat down in the glistening snow, poured a cup of creamy tea and took a deep breath. As my gaze came down from the liquid blue sky, it landed on the needled frond of a nearby spruce tree. But where there should have been a regular pattern of needles on the spruce branch, it seemed ragged and torn. On closer examination, I found it was exactly that. It looked like something had randomly bitten off hundreds of the needles, leaving the branch denuded of its normally green coat. I took a gulp of tea, scratched my head and wondered what could have done it. It had to be a bird, I thought, and my brain buzzed through bird names faster than a computer. Pine grosbeak, redpoll, chickadee, buzz, buzz, Willow ptarmigan, Ruffed grouse...ah ha ... Spruce grouse! Gotcha! Because spruce needles and buds are what Spruce grouse eat in winter. And that's why the common name of this northern forest-dwelling bird. I have found three scientific names for the Spruce grouse. The one I like best is Canachites canadensis, which means simply, the "Canadian noisemaker." This is because of the noise the male (who may also be an American) makes during his mating display in spring. On the nesting territory, usually alongside a fallen tree that has been used over many years for protection, he rapidly beats his wings together above his back while rising in the air and landing on the ground. In the Franklin's subspecies (which lives south of Alaska) the wing beating becomes a loud clapping sound. Remember not to confuse this noisemaking with the wing drumming of the male Ruffed grouse, which is actually done while he is perched on a log. The only two Yupik names I've come up with for this noisemaker are Egtuk and Egtuuk. I don't know for sure, but the names could have something to do with the clucking noise both sexes make when disturbed, or maybe even with the low hooting sound the male makes during its mating display in spring. Spring hormones also bring out some other interesting behavior. The male partially spreads his handsome orange-tipped tail feathers and raises his sexy red eyebrows, trying his hardest to command the attention of the female who is looking on nearby. The eyebrow trick usually works, because soon afterward the female scratches out a shallow depression in the ground under the branches of a fallen spruce free, then lines it with dry grasses, leaves, twigs and a few feathers. In this nest she usually lays six or seven of the handsomest eggs of any North American grouse: cinnamon to pink-buff or cream-buff, usually marked with large blotches and spots of rich brown. After the eggs are laid, the male leaves in search of other females to court. The female is left with all of the chores from that moment on. She incubates the eggs for 17-24 days, then after the eggs hatch cares for the chicks. The chicks are precodal, that is, they leave the nest soon after they are born. This means that momma has a lot of work to do to teach her hatchlings how to survive. But that she does, and within only one week her young are able not only to feed themselves, but also to flutter up from the ground to low branches to escape predators such as foxes. In order to distract any four-legged animals or even a certain two-legged predator we know, the mother bird performs a distraction display similar to the "broken-wing" act of many other species. Before the young leave the care of their mother they have learned all of the ropes, including which foods to eat in the forest, such as wild berries, grass and wildflower seeds, mushrooms, leaves, ferns, insects and, of course, spruce buds and needles. Like some other bird species, this grouse has many common English names: Franklin's grouse (referring to a separate species), Canada grouse, Black grouse, Cedar partridge, Spotted grouse, Spruce partridge, Swamp partridge, Wood grouse, Wood partridge, Spruce hen and fool hen. The last name comes from their habit of "freezing" in a low spruce tree limb as they are approached by the likes of the two-legged predator I mentioned above. Of course, they don't stand a chance and all to often become the dinner of this predator. Unless they've been eating a lot of spruce needles, however, they do taste mighty good. » List of Yupik Birds

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