Blog Archives
Dancing of the Grouse
Friends, a ballet dancer, nope, a male sharptail grouse on the attack. The image below shows the more typical dance position, but when two males come head to head, there is a lot of bluffing, then one or both birds may rise up and try to spur the other bird. When the female appeared on the grounds, there was only horizontal dancing and no more spurring.. til Tomorrow MJ
Sharptails
Friends, tomorrow morning we are going grouse hunting, with our cameras of course, this image was taken last year in the Namekagon Barrens of Northwestern Wisconsin. He is moving but that is the best i was able to get, but this year is another chance to fix the problems and come up with a winning image, it is spring, time to get to work til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:The Golden Hour
Friends, the sharptail grouse dance during the golden hour before dawn until after dawn, then they fly off with a female and do what grouse do. Til then they dance, jump and talk about it and often have an attitude. This image is from Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area and was taken early in the spring. I always freeze my fingers onto the shutter button, talk about cold, brrrrr something to think about now that the temperatures are in the 80-90 range. til Tomorrow MJ
Jumping for Joy
Friends, this dancing male sharptail grouse is jumping into the air to celebrate the arrival of spring, the weather is starting to warm up and thoughts turn to love, in this case grouse love, showing off for the girls, the males dance around the lek and occasionally at the end of the dance, they fly into the air, such a sight,yes the wings are blurred to emphasize the action we are in the badlands fighting with the wind til Tomorrow MJ
Grouse Attitude
Friends, an early morning in the grouse blind with male Sharptail Grouse dancing around us makes getting up before the sun very worthwhile, when they are tired from dancing, two males will lie down in the grasses face to face and stare at each other, these two rose up and this confrontation was apparent, the grouse on the left was all pumped up and full of himself, the right bird was giving a lecture, an attitude adjustment no doubt, I love when the birds and animals reveal their personalities and let me into their world, til Tomorrow MJ
Dancing Grouse
Friends, the sharptail grouse are dancing on the Namekagon Pine Barrens. This boy is just getting ready to dance, his eyebrows are raised and the feathers are rolled back to expose his purple airsac , in the image below you can see his sharp tail is raised and wings spread just a little. When he is really dancing, his head will be down and his feet will be stuttering so fast that they blur. Sat in a blind with my good friend (thanks Anna) on Saturday morning, lots of male dancing and carrying on, then on to Crex to make a 12 hour work day. til Tomorrow MJ
Dancing Sharptails
Friends, this time of year, the sharptailed grouse males are dancing on the meadows, in this image he is getting ready to dance, his yellow eyebrows are raised, his purple air sac is exposed, his tail is raised and his wings have dropped down, in the image below is his dancing pose, His feet do a fast stutter step as he whirls in circles and chases any other male birds. The females sit by silently watching, and after selecting the winner, they both fly away. This ritual happens at dawn, so one has to be in a blind before dawn. Finding a strange blind in the dark can be quite an adventure. so enjoy my sharpies in the warmth of indoors, til Tomorrow MJ
Grouse in the Grasses
Friends, today we return to color and the wild birds. This is a grouse from the badlands of North Dakota, taken in late summer or early fall. Not sure if it is a sharp-tail grouse or a sage grouse( or other?). I am not a very good birder so I don’t know all the differences between the species. But these birds come to the road in the early morning light to get their gravel and pose for pictures :). I didn’t crop this image closely because i wanted to show the relationship between the grouse and her grassy environment. What do you think? til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 