Ruffed Grouse Encounter

11/17/19

Hi All,

On the slim chance that the Rosy Finch I found a few days ago might still be on Bald Mountain, Don Berg and I headed up there this morning with hopes of relocating him.  On the way there we saw a Ruffed Grouse on the side of the logging road.  There was an abandoned car pushed off the bank on the other side, and he acted like this was his territory, strutting around like a property owner checking out trespassers.  Or maybe more like a soldier guarding his turf. 

I used to hunt these birds as a teenager, and it is always great to find one.  I understand that their population varies from highs to lows in some kind of cycles, so sometimes you can go for years without seeing one.  The Indians used to have a name for them, “ruffly” translated to “Loony Bird.”  I would suspect that the reason is because they are known to be quite tame, even attacking people or vehicles.  I once saw a movie clip of one flying into the soft snow for the night for the added cover of insulation.  They are so named for the “ruff,”which is a group elongated feathers on each side of the lower neck.  They can really fan then out, especially the males during breeding season when they are displaying.  You can see these in a few pics. 

Our bird strutted right up to our car, circled around back, then back to the front, all in about 10 minutes time.  I have to admit we were ambivalent to the time because of the experience.  I also was oblivious to how many pictures I was taking (Sound familiar?).  I figured I probably took 100-125 pics, but my estimate was low as the tally turned out to be 225.  At least this was not as bad as the 650 of the Rosy Finch a few days ago. We were able to get out of the car and take pics at our leisure.  He was not in attack mode, but not in retreat mode either.  When you have to back off on the zoom lens, you know you are close enough for good pics.  Am sure you will enjoy these. 

And big bonus was that it was a county bird for Don.  Our birding companion Brandon only saw his first county ruffed grouse last month, and he has been birding in the county for over 10 years. Come to think of it, I saw my first Ruffed Grouse on Christmas of 1980 just 100 yards from my present dwelling.  I’ve never seen one again on or near the property.  On the way back to my house, we brainstormed taking more pics of him, but he was a no show.  And, by the way,  we did not find the Rosy Finch today.