Spruce Grouse Supplemental (20140928) As promised I love the look of these birds.

On my last post I mentioned that I would do this supplemental, so here it is. Zel and I had a super time photographing this cooperative mother and 4 little ones. Here are two of the chicks.

Here is a little closer view of one of the Chicks. The feather patterning on these birds, like all the grouse, are just terrific.

We were able move about freely under Mom's watchful eye. She maintained contact with them constantly.

Of course mom has done her job well and she isn't the only one keeping an eye out for trouble.

There were some great opportunities with the great sun light to experiment with some shots and backgrounds. I like Mom here in the sun with the dark shade behind.

Of course the sun also provided superior light provided for some great images. I complain all the time about poor light conditions, I cannot do that about this little session.

  As far as I could tell all the youngsters were females as well. Here is another sitting on the ground.

Mom eventually flew up into a tree in the shade, and the little ones made their way over to the "dark" side of the road.

Of course there is always a laggard that wants to sit in the sun just a little longer than the others.

I hope you enjoyed the shots as much as I did taking them (I don't think that is possible), it was joy to sift through the shots and decide which ones to share.
Turbo