Sometimes luck works for you

Yesterday, on my walk in the woods behind our office, I startled a mother Ruffed Grouse and her chicks. This has happened before (see this post) so I was prepared for the hen to make a lot of noise and a "hurt" sound to distract me and draw attention away from her chicks. Even though I was ready, I was still surprised when one of the chicks flew right in front of me. Another chick flew off in a different direction. All I could do was hold up my camera and click the button. No time to hold it up to my eye and aim. Fortunately, the auto-focus worked pretty well.

It's hard to see in the picture above. It looks more like a picture of trees and bushes. You will have to click on the picture to see it full scale and then look in the left side of the picture and a little over halfway up. I've also included a second picture on the left that is a cut down view of just the chick. As you can see, it is bottom heavy and is really having to work to stay in the air. It only flew about 10 feet but it was enough to get away from me. The hen continued to make noise in the bushes to try to draw me away from the chicks who all stayed quiet once they landed.

I never know what I'll see on my walks. Mostly it's just a chance to get out in the fresh air and get some exercise. It's always nice to be out in the quiet and peacefulness of the woods. But once in a while I get to see something worth telling others about.