[tn-bird] Grousy Day on the Plateau

  • From: "Troy Ettel" <Troy.Ettel@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 09:20:06 -0500

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

=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
        jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx      (423) 764-3958
=========================================================


Other related posts: