In the quiet of the woods the bubbling song of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet erupted, and the high trill of the Brown Creeper signaled its presence. The hormonal drive to breed had birds singing regardless of the weather.
The genus name Callipepla (cal-ih-PEP-lah) is from the Greek kallos, beautiful, and peplos, a ceremonial robe, “beautifully adorned”, in reference to the bird’s plumage.
A bird of the forest, the Ruffed Grouse populates a widespread area of southern and western Canada and the northern United States including the Pacific Northwest (Rusch, et al).
The Brown Pelican is a conservation success story. Populations on both the Pacific and Atlantic/Gulf coasts suffered tremendously during the 1960s when all North American pelicans were extirpated outside of Florida.
