A new bird (for me)

Yesterday, I saw a bird I've never seen before. It's a Ruffed Grouse (pictured here). Notice the crest (on its head) and the short fan tail. According to my bird book, they don't usually perch in trees like this but I startled this mother and her chicks and she didn't want to fly away too far from them. She made a strange crying sound and I'm told they do this to lure predators away from their chicks. The predator hears the sound and thinks the mother is wounded and will be easy to catch.

The funny part of this is that the Ruffed Grouse is the state bird of Pennsylvania. I was born and raised there and stayed for 24 years and never saw one in that time. It took moving to Massachusetts and waiting another 32 years (plus another 3 years in between while I lived in Virginia) before I saw a Ruffed Grouse. Seeing the state bird of Massachusetts is much easier. I see Black-capped Chickadees all the time. I posted pictures of them before (here and here) so I won't bore you with another one.