Sharp-tailed Grouse

I don't think I've seen one of these posted here before. They've been hanging around our place most of the winter.

Very nice shot Ken. Love that time of day.
They don't usually let you get very close do they?

Beautiful light Ken. Another PR member and I are planning a trip in April to photograph sharp-tailed grouse. Hopefully we have great light like this too.

Thanks Bob & Mike. In the 8 years we've lived in our current location, I never noticed sharp-tail grouse until this winter. Seem to be everywhere around here and they don't seem to fear people very much. I have photographed several from 30-40 feet, but had a few within 12 feet. The colors on the original image are much more brilliant than the image posted, not sure why there was so much saturation loss through the upload...kind of disappointing!

Great image! He almost seems like he is posing.

"Is this my good side?"

Nice pic! Spot on shot

That is one plump little critter, Jeff

Thanks guys. I'm not sure if he was posing or just frozen, as it was about 15-below zero that day...which is probably why he looks so plump!

Ken, nice image, the IQ is great. We have Grey Partridge in our area, similar kind of ground dwelling bird, but I don't know how they survive some of our winters, but they do. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

Thanks Ron. We've got Gray Partridges down here also, but they are generally mistakenly identified as Chukar. Their population seems to flucuate wildly from year to year. I've heard it has to do with weather conditions while the hens are setting on the eggs, however it may be correlated with coyote & racoon populations as well.

Beautiful shot, Ken.