Friday, December 30, 2011

Ruffed Grouse




And we're back!  Over the river and through the woods from Grandmother's house in Maine, where we spent the Christmas holiday.  Thanks to everyone at Little Pond for hosting our family for almost a full week. I think grandma, grandpa, great-grandma, and the aunts and uncles had fun playing with Brody and Weston.  Megan and I appreciated the help just looking after the kids- keeping tabs on them is a full time job!

During this trip, I had the opportunity to photograph this pair of ruffed grouse.  Relatively uncommon in Ohio, the ruffed grouse is a popular game bird species in Maine, where they are often referred to as "partridge".  My in-laws have told me they see grouse occasionally, but they had, up until this week, eluded me at Little Pond.

I had just come in from outside when Megan started whispering for me rather loudly from the other room.  I am well familiar with that loud whisper, so I grabbed my camera to see what she had spotted.  These birds were foraging in the grass just outside the house, apparently eating clover, as evidenced by the little bit hanging from the male's beak.  Megan spotted them out the window as she was coming down the stairs.

I only had about a minute, but I was able to get a fairly decent photograph of the female and a "blog-able" image of the male.  You'll be sure that I'll be on the look out for ruffed grouse the next time we visit Little Pond, Maine.

-Tom


4 comments:

  1. Great shots of the Grouse and congrats on your sighting. They are great birds. Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw my Life RGs this past summer in the NC mountains, and was not able to get anywhere near them for a pic. Good for you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Eileen and Buford. My first experience with Ruffed Grouse was similar to yours, but in the mountains of Maine. About all I saw was a tail running away from me in the most dense thicket you could imagine. I got lucky this time, because I was in the house, and they didn't know I was even around!

    -Tom

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great closeup pictures of the Ruffed Grouse. We have seen a few this past year up here in Canada. Checkout our pics and video at: http://frametoframe.ca/photo-essay-ruffed-grouse-sighting-algonquin-park-ontario/

    ReplyDelete