Monday, April 22, 2013

A Ruffed Grouse in Display

My husband and I saw a sight today that we hadn't seen before.  A Ruffed Grouse displaying its black ruff of feathers around its neck.
At first I wasn't sure what I was looking at as the bird was so still, I thought at first it was a charred stump along the wooded roadside, but as I saw an eye flicker I knew it was a bird.  And I assumed it was a Ruffed Grouse , although the ruff or scarf of black feathers around its neck confused us.  It didn't suddenly fly away as is often the case with grouse, but it walked across the dirt road and walked up the hilly incline on the other side of the road. It didn't seem to be in any hurry.
 The picture above shows the back view of the Grouse as it walked away. From its back view the black feathers  had an appearance  of a shawl around its shoulders We had backed our truck onto a side road to turn and the grouse was beside us.  I rolled down the truck window so as to take better photos and it wasn't in any hurry to leave. This was a fascinating sighting.

3 comments:

  1. Amazing photos. I'm glad it wasn't camera shy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love watching the partridge ~ just wait until you come across one that is drumming... beating it's feathers like a hummingbird 100 miles per hour trying to entice a mate. Awesome photo captures. Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fran Harris9:36 PM

    Very nice photos!

    ReplyDelete