At 08:40 PM 3/22/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Yesterday I took a hike with a small group on the South Tiger Loop trail of
>Tiger Mountain.
>About half way through the loop we encountered a ruffed grouse. I have
>seen other species of grouse, but I had never seen a ruffed before. It
>acted in a way that was totally unexpected by me. It was on the trail and
>not only did not move off as we approached but proceeded to walk up to
>different members of the group and pecked at our clothes or around us. It
>appeared to be totally unafraid. I was not certain if it was attempting to
>peck something off us or trying to drive us away. I looked back after we
>had walked on and it was still moving around on the trail. Can anyone give
>me a clue as to what was going on?

Yes, it was acting like a grouse :)

I've had a ruffed grouse do this to me once, following me around like I was
the master and it was the dog. Ironically, I was on a serious wildlife
photographing trip and had chosen this afternoon to relax and lay down my
camera, which was back in trunk of the car. I went to get it, by the time
I got back I couldn't find the grouse.

Blue grouse are particularly notorious for ignoring people. The first time
I saw blue grouse, I was backpacking and ummm ... performing a common morning
biological function in the squatting position, when a blue grouse hen came and
started wandering around my feet, pecking at my shoes.

Not all grouse are so tolerant of people, sage grouse, for instance, though
males do seem to like displaying to Acura wheel covers.


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net