Sooty Grouse
Sooty Grouse has surged: up 214% on the route-weighted index since 1970.
About the Sooty Grouse
The Sooty Grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus) is a North American member of the Pheasants, Grouse & Turkeys (Phasianidae). In this analysis it is grouped with the game birds.
- Size
- 12–47 in long (30–120 cm) — a ground-dwelling game bird (typical for the family)
- Habitat
- Fields, brushland, prairie and the forest floor, where it forages and nests on the ground.
- Diet
- Seeds, grain, buds, leaves and insects gathered on the ground.
- Range
- Recorded on 126 Breeding Bird Survey routes across 4 states, most concentrated in the Northern Pacific Rainforest.
- Family
- Phasianidae · Game birds
Notable Sooty Grouse Trends
No notable trend signals for Sooty Grouse. See the full index history below.
Sooty Grouse Population Forecast
If the recent trend holds, Sooty Grouse is projected to stay roughly flat through 2029, near 0.04 (95% range 0.03–0.06). A 5-year backtest shows a typical error of ±36.7%, with 80% of held-out values landing inside the 95% band.
| Year | Projected index | 95% low | 95% high |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.06 |
| 2026 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.06 |
| 2027 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.06 |
| 2028 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.06 |
| 2029 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.06 |
Where the Sooty Grouse Is Detected
BBS routes recording Sooty Grouse, sized by most recent count.
Sooty Grouse Population Trend by State
| Alaska | -86% | 1975 | 15 |
| California | +62% | 1976 | 42 |
| Oregon | -85% | 1970 | 35 |
| Washington | +12% | 1971 | 34 |
Sooty Grouse Population Trend by Region
Bird Conservation Regions are the ecological unit for trends.
| Northern Pacific Rainforest | +72% | 1970 | 81 |
| Great Basin | -49% | 1971 | 27 |
| Sierra Nevada | +31% | 1977 | 16 |
Sooty Grouse Conservation Status
Our route-weighted index shows it up about 214% since 1970.
Source: USGS North American Breeding Bird Survey, retrieved 2026-05-22. Trend is a route-weighted relative-abundance index, not an absolute population.