Several years ago, my brother and his family were adopted by a Ruffed Grouse whom they, as true Vermonters, named Peter Partridge (path-trich). The bird would come to their porch stairs and wait for Patrick to come out, and seemed to welcome him even before he started bringing out handfuls of corn. It would lean against his ankle, stand on his shoes, etc. This continued all winter.
A few years later, a friend and I were visited by a lonely grouse in October, while we were cutting and splitting firewood in a friend’s woodlot. The bird pulled on our shoelaces, pecked at our socks, and then retreated a few feet and kept us company for about two hours.
Maeve Kim, Jericho Center

> On Jan 8, 2021, at 11:00 PM, Charlie La Rosa <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Ruffed grouse, or pa'tridge as my Vermont grandmother used to call them,
> have been the subject of some interesting encounters. A farmer in
> Westhampton, MA, was befriended by a grouse. It would follow him around the
> farm as he did his chores and would go along for the ride when the farmer
> would pull equipment behind his tractor. While slow birding, I once had one
> member of a pair of grouse actually walk on and over my feet while the
> other went behind me. My aunt and uncle had one that would always pay them
> a visit when they sat on their screened porch at their camp. Makes life
> interesting!
> Charlie
> So. Washington
> 
> On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 7:42 PM Jim Mead <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> Hello all,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>                                   A neighbor who was out x-country skiing
>> with her family, sent me a text and photo at 4:47 p.m. wondering what this
>> bird was. I told her that it was a Ruffed Grouse. I asked her where she was
>> and then went there and saw it along with her husband and 2 children. She
>> said that it kept following them and at one point, it was standing on her
>> ski. When I first saw the bird it was standing next to her husband. When
>> the bird saw me, it came right over, stood and faced me. After a few
>> minutes it flew up and “sort of” aggressively attacked my thigh. I’m not
>> sure about the behavior it was exhibiting but my guess is that we were in
>> its’ territory and it was defending it. After we got back to our vehicles,
>> we all saw it fly along the road and back into the tree line. It probably
>> flew about 100 yards. This bird did not appear to be ill. It actually
>> looked quite healthy. We simply walked away from it and left it alone. What
>> an incredible family experience!!! I felt quite fortunate to have been able
>> to share it with all of them.
>> 
>> Enjoy Birds,
>> 
>> Jim Mead
>>