name of this bird. Please help!?

Question

There is a bird here in the foothills of sequoia here in california and I dont know the name. Here is the description.
It does not fly. Its the size of a chicken, and is grey in color. Its face is very funny looking. Its face is ugly and wrinkled and has white skin hanging from its cheeks and head. For some reason, when they are in groups, the run at each other really fast flapping thier wings and ram into each other. Can you help me figure this one out? Or where can i go to find out.?

Answer 1

its gotta be the Sage Grouse, you must be watching fights between the males for mates or territory. The males will puff up their chests to display for females and to intimidate other males.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sage_Grouse
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dush-ans%26p%3Dsage%2520grouse%26fr2%3Dtab-web&w=300&h=245&imgurl=www.wildlife.utah.gov%2Fnews%2F04-04%2Fsage-grouse.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wildlife.utah.gov%2Fnews%2F04-04%2Fsage-grouse.html&size=10.5kB&name=sage-grouse.jpg&p=sage+grouse&type=jpeg&no=4&tt=3,031&oid=d5fbd7a6a12dedca&ei=UTF-8

Answer 2

Definitely sounds like some sort of grouse (also chicken/turkey family). Not sure whether or not it's a wild bird or somebody's pet.

If it's a wild bird, the two most likely I can think of are California Quail:
http://www.shallowsky.com/Birds/Other/california_quail3.jpg

or Sooty Grouse:
http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/phasianidae/sogr02.html

Answer 3

Sounds like a sage grouse, you can check here;

http://beakspeak.com/

scroll down to near bottom of page

Answer 4

Hmmm... sounds like the African Guinea Fowl... a common pick for poultry fanciers around the US.

Answer 5

possibly some type of grouse??