[NatureNS] FW: re displaying ruffed grouse, and robin mobbing barred owl

From: "Jeannie" <jeannies@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
References: <C264FAA5.EBA8%jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 16:41:33 -0300
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Here are a few pics of a ruffed grouse in full display,also the female in 
the tree directly above it. I took these pics at my cottage about two years 
ago.
Jeannie
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1337044052025930195FuMtcO
Jeannie Shermerhorn,Port Hawkesbury

Cottage....Cape George,Cape Breton


jeannies@ns.sympatico.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Wolford" <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
To: "NatureNS" <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>; "Cheryl & Pol" 
<cherylphillips@ns.sympatico.ca>; <cheryl@eastlink.ca>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 3:47 PM
Subject: FW: [NatureNS] FW: re displaying ruffed grouse, and robin mobbing 
barred owl


> I'm very surprised at David's report below, naively without doing any
> homework, because in my experience most male grouse, pheasants, turkeys, 
> and
> partridges do not participate in family matters at all after courting and
> mating with the females (as many as possible).  Does anyone on the list 
> have
> any info' on this.
>
> By the way, I presume that David's "chickens" below should read "chicks".
>
> Cheers from Jim in Wolfville
> ----------
> From: David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>
> Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
> Date: Sat, 05 May 2007 20:25:18 -0300
> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] FW: re displaying ruffed grouse, and robin mobbing
> barred owl
>
> Hi Bob, Jim & All,        May 5, 2007
>    I saw this display once (fanned tail, wings held out & back, neck
> feathers flared, along with regular contraction and extension of display
> which introduced movement) and, from the circumstances, took it to be an
> attempt at distraction; equivalent to the broken wing display. No doubt
> it also serves to impress hens.
>
>    Circumstances were roughly as follows. I was walking along a narrow
> woods road and, just as I started to turn to the right into the woods, a
> male RG ran out onto the road about 5 paces away, displayed, then when I
> continued to move into the woods it moved more directly into my path and
> displayed again. At about this time a hen with the broken wing staggered
> down hill from ahead and chickens scurried off in several directions. It
> all happened very quickly; likely 2-3 seconds.
>
>    So your male RG may have been attempting to draw something else away
> from a nest when you first saw it.
>
> Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville
>
> Jim Wolford wrote:
>
>>>From what Bob related at the bottom of his note, that robin had better be
>>very careful, since, accoarding to Bernard Forsythe, robins are very
>>frequent prey of barred owls!  Cheers from Jim
>>----------
>>From: Bob McDonald <bobathome@hfx.eastlink.ca>
>>Date: Fri, 04 May 2007 21:00:26 -0300
>>To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>>Subject: [NatureNS] Daytime visit to our owl survey route
>>
>>Good evening,
>>
>>This afternoon, Suzanne Borkowski and I scouted out and re-flagged my owl
>>route in the Pockwock watershed.....
>>
>>....the high-light of the afternoon had to be a male Ruffed Grouse in
>>FULL DISPLAY mode!!  What a sight!  The illustration in Peterson came no
>>where near to doing "our" bird justice.  We first saw it in the middle of
>>the road about 100 m ahead.  We stopped immediately and checked it out
>>through binoculars.  Once we had figured out its identity, it ambled 
>>slowly
>>off the road and we moved forward to where it disappeared from view and
>>Suzanne turned off the engine.  Within a few seconds, we noticed it again
>>moving slowly through the saplings at the side of the road.  Apart from 
>>the
>>fully fanned out tail, the ruff around the neck was fully extended such 
>>that
>>the head was barely visible.  Every few seconds it shook its head and the
>>ruff feathers magnified every move.  This bird did everything but go into
>>the drumming mode.  We never did see the female but there must have been 
>>one
>>around; certainly this male would have been very hard for a female to
>>resist.  The best illustration that we could find is on page 61 of the 5th
>>edition of the Nat Geog field guide.  In 33 years of birding in Canada, I
>>had never seen this display before - it really gave new meaning to the 
>>name
>>RUFFED GROUSE!!
>>
>>Yesterday while doing some geocaching in Oakfield PP, an owl gave 2 long
>>quavering calls in mid-afternoon.  The bird was easy to find since it was
>>being mobbed by a very vocal and upset Robin.  It turned out to be a 
>>Barred
>>Owl - only one was seen.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Bob McDonald
>>Halifax
>>
>>
>
>
>
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