Meet Charlie Grouse
My friend Joan has been e-mailing me for the past week or so about a bird she encounters on her daily walks
Let me share her description. “He is truly gorgeous, brown and white stripes and dots and plaids – everything in a gorgeous pattern, with a flat long tail with a brown band at the end, whitish underbelly, a bit of a crown at the top, not a long bill, short to medium, pointed. He is so talkative… he gobbles and gurgles at me and then softly coos and mourns a bit like a mourning dove.”
Today Joan, Nina and I walked through the woods above the Delaware River, following a narrow country road. Just before we reached the top of the hill we could see movement back in the trees. Running out of the woods came Charlie Grouse: Joan called to him and he came right up to her feet. To my delight he posed for pictures before a car came past and we went on our way.
Ruffed Grouse Bonasa umbellus
Stokes Field Guide to Birds states: "Ruffed Grouse can at times be very tame. They occasionally approach humans and may even act aggressively."
http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/ruffed_facts.asp
Let me share her description. “He is truly gorgeous, brown and white stripes and dots and plaids – everything in a gorgeous pattern, with a flat long tail with a brown band at the end, whitish underbelly, a bit of a crown at the top, not a long bill, short to medium, pointed. He is so talkative… he gobbles and gurgles at me and then softly coos and mourns a bit like a mourning dove.”
Today Joan, Nina and I walked through the woods above the Delaware River, following a narrow country road. Just before we reached the top of the hill we could see movement back in the trees. Running out of the woods came Charlie Grouse: Joan called to him and he came right up to her feet. To my delight he posed for pictures before a car came past and we went on our way.
Ruffed Grouse Bonasa umbellus
Stokes Field Guide to Birds states: "Ruffed Grouse can at times be very tame. They occasionally approach humans and may even act aggressively."
http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/ruffed_facts.asp
posted by Endment at 11:23 PM
5 Comments:
I wonder why grouse do this. At least 4 times in my life I have had grouse come to my feet. Some place, I have photos of the last one, but where? Sigh! I can lose more things in a day than I used to find in a week.
oh what a wonderful photo! I am so glad you found my site and now I have found you--- I am a big bird lover and look forward to reading back into your archives.
~Elizabeth
http://bluepoppy.omworks.com
What a fortunate encounter! I had never heard of a grouse acting this way before.
Wow! How exciting.
beltane - He is beautiful. Wish I could get him against a different background.
ontario wanderer - A naturalist thinks it is trying to encourage us to come be its mate --- I have my doubts but it is fun to see it so close
anonymous - thanks for visiting, hope to see you again soon
t. beth - I added a comment from Stokes to my post - guess it hapens enough for them to mention... I had never heard of it before
harmonyinline
would love to have you join us on one of our walks
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