Franklin's grouse

Franklin's grouse is a subspecies of the spruce grouse found in the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, and Alberta.

Taxonomy

In 2014, it was split by the IUCN as a distinct species from the spruce grouse Canachites canadensis after being considered a subspecies. However, as of early 2021 the International Ornithological Congress, the American Ornithological Society, and the Clements taxonomy retain C. f. franklinii and C. f. isleibi as subspecies of spruce grouse.
An isolated population, now treated as a distinct subspecies, C. c. isleibi, is found on Prince of Wales Island and the nearby Alexander Archipelago in southeast Alaska.

Description

It closely resembles other subspecies of the spruce grouse, but the male's tail is entirely black, lacking the chestnut terminal tail band of the spruce grouse, and has white spots overlying it.

Behaviour

Territorial males are notable for their wing-clap display. At the end of a short flight through the trees, the wings are brought together over the back so as to produce two sharp claps, about 0.5 s apart, loud enough to be heard by the human ear away. Occasionally, these territorial displays can be elicited by similar hand clapping and can be used to detect male territories and estimate their density.