This morning’s grouse

Ruffed Grouse – Bonasa umbellus

Good morning for a breakfast of Hawthorn berries

Fresh snow covered the ground during the night but the breakfast table was set in the trees.

Cedar Waxwings

The berries they are eating are from the Red Hawthorn AKA Columbian Hawthorn, Crataegus Columbiana.

Fool’s hens

Spruce Grouse ~ Falcipennis canadensis

On a short hike across the north-facing slope below Sunset Peak in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains of western Montana the other day I came across a total of ten of these medium sized grouse whose species inhabits all of Canada and just the northernmost parts of the United States. Had I been a predator that day, I would have been well fed because they behave as their nickname implies, rather foolishly, letting me get within a few feet of them before they flew, depending to an amazing degree just on their camouflage alone. They weigh about a pound to a pound and a half and I have found them to be delicious.

Two of his three worlds

Two Robins

American Robin ~ Turdus migratorius

Ragged Robin, (AKA Clarkia pulchella, Pinkfairies, Deerhorn) ~ Clarkia pulchella