3000 Miles in the Great Smokies by William A. Hart

Author:William A. Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2011-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

A Disturbed Mother

Somewhere in the Smokies

June 7, 1985

I climbed the old logging rail grade that paralleled a small creek, enjoying a variety of sights and sounds along the stream. A sudden movement refocused my attention to the grade in front of me. It took me only a moment to realize that I had disturbed a grouse hen camouflaged with subtle patterns of tan, white and black, ideal protection in a forest with many colors and shades.

While I watched, the hen moved ahead on the old overgrown grade, feigning injury by dropping one wing and moving erratically. I had observed this behavior at other times and knew that the hen was attempting to distract my attention from her brood that hid nearby. In fact, it took only an instant for the mother’s alarm to spread to her chicks, and in short order eight or ten tennis ball–sized young scattered in all directions depending on stubby wings to fly them to safety.

Although they did not know it, I meant them no harm. To avoid disturbing the birds further, I moved up the grade and away from the place where I had enjoyed discovering the mother and her chicks.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.