Spruce Grouse
July 1st, 2015
We went hiking on the iconic Skyline Trail during our travels through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It's known for its wildlife, particularly moose, although we didn't see any there. Actually I'd just been starting to think that the iconic Skyline Trail was kinda boring when we stumbled across this lady:
1680x1050 wallpaper
A female Spruce Grouse and my first lifer of the trip! (We did this hike before the Bird Islands tour.) Spruce Grouse live in northern conifer forests, where they subsist, primarily, on pine and spruce needles, plus the occasional invertebrate in summer. Munching spruce needles is what she was doing when we found her. I'd heard Spruce Grouse were tame, but I wasn't prepared for just how tame. It went something like this:
nosh nosh nosh nosh "Oh, are you two still here?" nosh nosh nosh "'Scuse me coming through--" **BUZZ** (as she flies one foot over our heads, dusting us and my camera with spruce pollen) nosh nosh nosh
Birds that blithely ignore humans (as opposed to either fearing them or seeking them for handouts) have always been my favorite kind. I guess I just like the reminder that not everything is about us! She was definitely a high point of my vacation. Although I think one of those pollen specks ended up on my sensor...
July 1st, 2015
We went hiking on the iconic Skyline Trail during our travels through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It's known for its wildlife, particularly moose, although we didn't see any there. Actually I'd just been starting to think that the iconic Skyline Trail was kinda boring when we stumbled across this lady:
1680x1050 wallpaper
A female Spruce Grouse and my first lifer of the trip! (We did this hike before the Bird Islands tour.) Spruce Grouse live in northern conifer forests, where they subsist, primarily, on pine and spruce needles, plus the occasional invertebrate in summer. Munching spruce needles is what she was doing when we found her. I'd heard Spruce Grouse were tame, but I wasn't prepared for just how tame. It went something like this:
nosh nosh nosh nosh "Oh, are you two still here?" nosh nosh nosh "'Scuse me coming through--" **BUZZ** (as she flies one foot over our heads, dusting us and my camera with spruce pollen) nosh nosh nosh
Birds that blithely ignore humans (as opposed to either fearing them or seeking them for handouts) have always been my favorite kind. I guess I just like the reminder that not everything is about us! She was definitely a high point of my vacation. Although I think one of those pollen specks ended up on my sensor...
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Mike
July 1st, 2015 at 12:26 pm
Very nice shots... it posed pretty shamelessly!
TJ
May 1st, 2016 at 6:21 pm
What a beautiful bird. <3