Grouse, grouse, grouses, or grice

The spring crop of gamebirds sure seems to be good this year. Lots of wild turkey nests found in the fields —though I haven’t seen any turkey poults yet.

This mother grouse was spotted standing in the road. Last year, another went through the same behavior until a tourist ran her over. Rather than see that happen again, I chased this one back into the woods.

What was funny wasn’t the mother bird’s stupidity —their brains are only the size of a pea— but the six or seven chicks following. From birth they are superbly camouflaged, and they freeze while their mother clucks warnings.

As soon as their mother took off in that distinctive grouse-rocket, they all started to run in the direction she flew, and then all of them took off flying too. Only the size of a golf-ball and covered with fuzzy down, I never knew that baby grouse this tiny could fly. And they could fly!

Some of them went only 10 yards, but other went as far as their mother; all rising almost straight up before taking off to barrel through the bushes. Not chickens, ducks or turkeys — not even most song birds— have babies with functional wings when they're so young.

Grouse, grouse, grouses, or grice ?

see if you can find them . . .