Grouse Mountain mild as the Lower Mainland. In December (the coldest month statistically), Grouse Mountain has an average high and low of and respectively. This freeze/thaw cycle can allow for large amounts of rain to fall on some occasions every winter. Nonetheless, heavy snow is more frequent in the winter, which allows for a deep snow-pack, lasting on average from mid-November until early May. Summer is warm and relatively dry. August is the warmest month, with an average high and low of and respectively. Grouse Mountain has built an observation deck (accessible by elevator) on a 1.5 megawatt wind turbine of Leitwind
Spruce grouse the way ruffed grouse do. In the first half of the century, spruce grouse were classified as two separate species in the genus "Canachites": spruce grouse ("C. canadensis") and Franklin's grouse ("C. franklinii"), a position reinstated by Birdlife International in 2014. Then the species were unified and moved to the genus "Dendragapus", congeneric with the blue grouse with which spruce grouse often share coniferous habitats. However, spruce grouse do not have inflatable cervical sacs as in blue grouse, and the natal plumage of the two species is different. Based on its stronger resemblance to the Siberian grouse ("Falcipennis falcipennis"), the