拍攝日期：2011.07.02
拍攝地點：Mount Audubon(海拔13,223呎 / 4,030公尺)
野花生長地：海拔約11,000~13,000呎的苔原
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King's Crown
Alpine Besseya
Alpine Forget-Me-Not
Alpine Phlox
Alpine Sunflower (Old man of the mountain)
Alpine Wallflower
Sky Pilot
Shooting Star (攝於Red Rock Lake, 海拔10,160 ft / 3,090 m)
Yellow Pond Lily(台灣萍蓬草) --(攝於Red Rock Lake, 海拔10,160 ft / 3,090 m)
Mount Audubon 高山野花
前天到落磯山國家公園的Wild Basin區域健行，步道旁發現一隻少見的Blue grouse(松雞)媽媽帶著三、四隻雛鳥在覓食，平常害生的Blue grouse今天看到人卻沒驚慌飛走，看到我在拍照反而鼓出胸部和張開尾翅作勢攻擊人，因為牠在保護牠的雛鳥！
Description
These are large grouse that inhabit highland regions of North America and Eurasia. The Sooty Grouse is found in the Pacific Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada, and the Dusky Grouse in the Rocky Mountains. These two taxa were originally regarded as separate species, but were considered conspecific for much of the twentieth century. However, in 2006 the American Ornithologists' Union re-split them, following the DNA-based work of Barrowclough et al. (2004). whose results supported the earlier work of Brooks (1929) who regarded the two taxa as separate species based on morphology, behavior and vocalizations. The precise ranges of the two species are well-defined in the south, separated by extensive areas of unsuitable forest-free habitat, but somewhat uncertain in the north of the range of the genus where there is no separation; Barrowclough et al.'s study did not include these northern populations.
Adults have a long square tail, gray at the end (lighter in the Sooty Grouse). Adult males are mainly dark (especially Sooty Grouse) with a yellow (Sooty Grouse) or purplish (Dusky Grouse) throat air sac surrounded by white, and a yellow (Sooty Grouse) or yellow to red (Dusky Grouse) wattle over the eye during display. Adult females of both species are mottled brown with dark brown and white marks on the underparts.
Their breeding habitat is the edges of conifer and mixed forests in mountainous regions of North America and Eurasia. Their range is closely associated with that of various conifers. The nest is a scrape on the ground concealed under a shrub or log.
All species have healthy populations, except for some population decline and habitat loss of the Sooty Grouse at the southern end of its range in southern California. and the Siberian Grouse which is considered near-threatened.
資料來源： Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
雌松雞
松雞雛鳥
母與子
雄松雞(攝於2005.06.27)
雄松雞(圖片引自 Wikipedia)
