Botched concealment

My favourite Ruffed Grouse is featured on these pages a few times a year for it is an occasional visitor to my yard.

For three seasons, my friend is difficult to espy so well does it blend into its surroundings. It is well camouflaged both when it stands still, and during its languid travels though the brush when it appears to be little more than a bit of foliage shifting in the wind.

Alas, the cryptic plumage and stealthy movement that provide beautiful concealment during other seasons, just seem comical in the winter. Now the grouse is stridently conspicuous as it makes its stately passage across a field of snow.