Ruffed Grouse Strutting in the Wind, Blowing Autumn Leaves

Music: Point - Counterpoint - John Patitucci from the YouTube Audio Library Posing like an haute couture model with a wind machine ruffling that feather boa! I'd just been doing some final mowing for the year to pick up fallen leaves (clearing areas where I will need to shovel, etc, leaves are all saved for mulch/compost). I walked towards this path in to a wooded area on the acreage and noticed something on the path- took some squinting, but then realised it was a Ruffed Grouse Bonasa umbellus. Went back for my camera, and he was still there, in full display! The wind was ruffling his feathers and blowing fallen leaves on the ground. There have been occasional times when I've been using the chainsaw, turned around and saw a grouse nearby in display. I think sometimes they hear the rumbling of the saw- or this time the mower- and it sounds like a grouse drumming- they perch on logs and beat their wings against their sides producing a rapid thumping sound that carries far through the