Sheep Gap Fire

The wild fire that started yesterday in the Coeur D’Alene Mountains at around 5 PM has been given a name and it is now being followed on InciWeb. Here are a few photos of it from this evening as the sun began to set behind it:

Grouse

These are Blue Grouse who let me get pretty close to them this morning. They are about the size of small chickens. Earlier in the summer a hen and three chicks took up residence at my place when the chicks were about the size of tennis balls. They have stayed here all summer and now I can’t tell the hen from her chicks. It’s unusual to see them here but they are fairly plentiful in the area of the new fire. Perhaps they knew something?