Ruff? Half-Ruff

 
I've shown you grouse several times. They are actually called ruffed grouse because they can lift the ruff of feathers around their neck. They can also spread their tails like a turkey. Usually it's the males doing this during mating season. But I surprised several grouse today, and one of them was thinking about showing off. He got partway there. It would be totally awesome if I could get a picture of one really displaying sometime.


This one shows up a little better because of the pine needles behind it, and the focus is better too.

	See Are You Missing a Pet Grouse?
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No Grouse for Dinner

 
Maggie and I went for a hike today. I couldn't stay inside! 42 degrees and sunny. It's just impossible to decide what to wear on the feet this winter. There's no snow left at my house. However, in the woods, just 15 miles away on the North Country Trail, we found this:



I had chosen to wear hiking boots. They were adequate to keep from getting wet feet. They were probably the right choice, but the walking was a bit challenging. There were a couple of inches of soggy snow making the footing a lot like walking in loose sand. I had planned to hike for a couple of hours. But my calves were yelling in 15 minutes!

Well, we walked for 70 minutes, and it was plenty for both Maggie and me. I guess it wasn't a great day for wildlife. I saw/heard three species: some grouse flew through the trees, a crow called from a distance, and... you'll have to wait for tomorrow for the other one. I'm making a video.

We did see a lot of tracks, but nothing new.

I think the best story is the grouse that did not become someone's dinner. I'm guessing a fox, due to the large number of those tracks I saw.

Said grouse lost a couple of tailfeathers.



No problem... but it also lost a few body feathers.



And, there were also a few breast feathers!



But... that was all. No blood drops, no other feathers. There weren't any grouse tracks, so I'm thinking the bird was coming in for a landing, saw the fox and tried to lift off again, and the fox managed to grab a mouthful of feathers, but nothing else.

I love stories in the snow!

I think you'll like tomorrow's video... something new (as in not blogged about previously).

	See More Grousing and a View from Natahki
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Grousing Allowed?

 
On a blog devoted to finding the positive things in each and every day, is grousing allowed?

Most definitely, when it's this kind! We have a lot more snow than this now, but I took this picture last week along the North Country Trail. There are a lot of different tracks here, but I left them all for scale.



The bird tracks going left to right along the top of the picture are ruffed grouse. In fact, I saw two of the birds while hiking, but I didn't see these tracks being made, so I had to check in my books after I got home.

You can also see one of my footprints, and one of Maggie's. Bicycles are allowed on this section of trail, and two cyclists had ridden through earlier in the day.

Winter is always a great season for seeing tracks. Who knows what we'll find this year?

There's a link below to a post with pictures of the ruffed grouse.

	See Ruffed Grouse
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