Yesterday a Ruffed Grouse appeared in the flower bed right next to the house. There are some few remaining Serviceberries on the branches, and the grouse had his eye on them. So I took a picture because they are such pretty birds and they make me laugh.
Neck feathers on these guys are long and they fluff them out, making a ruff. They think they look tough when they do this. Here he is slowly stalking the berry prey, through the bark mulch.
Mishkin went over to the window to see what I was doing, and was standing up making kitty chirp noises at the bird. Normally I would think a grouse, who is on virtually everybody’s menu, would just flee. But not this bird.
The grouse turned around and fluffed his ruff for all it was worth, and started stalking towards the window at the waiting cat. Mish decided there was something interesting on the other side of house to look at, instead.
Score: Grouse 1 Mishkin 0
The lighter ball of fluff is 50/50 Alpaca/Cashmere, and the darker one is 100% Alpaca.
Yesterday I received a care package of fluff from Diana. I think I will spin a single from each and ply them together for a variegated yarn, and knit a new hat. Dan says I look disreputable when I wear his old wool hat, and this should solve the problem. Thanks Diana! She’s seen me wearing that old hat too.