We were walking the back trails at Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. I was looking for Moose so was looking for something big. I had just made a turn on the path when I caught out of the corner of my eye movement, something small and gray under a tree. My mind said Lynx since they are here. I slowly moved forward to see what the movement was and I come around a tree to see a male Spruce Grouse … displaying! This is October! I moved forward a little more and I could see a second male grouse displaying. What gives, courtship is in May … they are all confused!
Then I spot the female up in the spruce and the dots connected. Now why the males thought in October they had any chance with this female is still a mystery but I didn’t care. For those of you who have not seen a Spruce Grouse in the wild, they are not a smart bird. You’ve seen in the movies folks throwing rocks at them when hunting them, that’s real world! So for the wildlife photographer with a 300mm lens, getting up close and personal for the shot is real simple. For me, this was my first opportunity in all these years to get a female Spruce Grouse in a Spruce in real nice light and not have a blown out background. So while the male watched, we photographed the female as the sun slowly set. And the male … he turned and walked away, still all confused.