FreeLists / tn-bird / [tn-bird] Grousy Day on the Plateau

["Troy Ettel" <Troy.Ettel@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yesterday, while touring Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area with manager =
Stan Stooksbury, Dave Buehler, and Melinda Welton we encountered an =
impressive flock of Ruffed Grouse.  The grouse were just along the left =
side of a dirt road about 15 feet from our vehicle, hidden in underbrush =
just below an old coal mine strip bench.  There were at least 10 birds, =
with one person in the group counting as many as 11.  They exhibited a =
variety of different behaviors: two flushed when we first came upon the =
group, some paced nervously back-and-forth neck feathers "ruffed" and =
tails fully fanned, one flew up into a tree and watched over us from a low =
branch, several others remained quite still and then were spotted as they =
began to slowly creep though the underbrush, bodies bent close to the =
ground.

All were adult size, though a likely explanation for the flock is that it =
contained either a single or several adult females with fully grown =
juveniles.



Troy Ettel
State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 781-6653
Troy.Ettel@xxxxxxxxxxx

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