[mou] turkeys and grouse question

[Jeff and Amy Drake]

Ottertail cty., MN (Richville area)

25 turkeys in our yard today cleaning up the seeds dropped by everyone else.  They stayed for about 45 minutes until the garbage truck came.  Nice to see the guys stop and stare at the birds too.

Do grouse normally display all year?  I thought they only bred in the spring.  None of my bird books make mention of fall displays.  

We had 2 ruffed grouse in our yard again on Sunday.  The female was hiding in our spruce tree and the persistant male spent more than 2 hours fluffed up and walking slowly back and forth under the tree for her to see.  He kept turning his tail fan so she could get a good look at it and occasionally shaking his head to presumably to show off the ruff.  He didn't even twitch when we pulled out to go to church and drove within 15 feet of him.  I've no idea how much longer they stayed.

Amy

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