A true "grouse pic".

I nearly ran over this little hen with my snowmachine yesterday. Came zooming up over a ridge onto a snow-covered patch of sage and suddenly she flushed up right alongside my sled.

The winds were steady around 30 mph with gusts to 50, coming straight from my right. As luck would have it, she flushed on my right side, and struggled against the wind. So the next thing I know I've got a sage grouse, wings and tail spread wide, gliding right beside my waist.

If I'd let go the handlebars and leaned real hard, I could have touched her.

Naturally I stopped and grabbed the camera. And soon discovered she wasn't the only grouse hunkered down in the sage, hiding from the wind.

And on the other side, behind me on my left, was a lone cock, his new breeding plumage whiter than the snow. Glaring at me, wondering what I was trying to do with his girls.

Strutting season is just about upon us. I'm sure he wasn't just thinking about the wind.