MyDreamWalk

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

And the Winner Is?

The contestants for the most interesting animal I have encountered on my journey include bears, of course, black, brown and grizzly, wolf, moose, caribou, Dahl sheep and all manner of the littler creatures including the winner, the white tailed grouse.

An unlikely choice? This is the one animal that consistently spooks me every time she sees me coming. [I never see her first] She hides in the roadside brush neatly camouflaged with a mottled lichen color in summer and snow white in winter. She jumps four feet into the air fluttering her tail fan, thrashing her tiny wings, and shrills like a whistle. She will also wobble along the road after you, chasing, and quacking like a duck. The big animals I can see, and at times smell. Their scat or large foot prints alert me that they are near. Not the grouse. She terrorizes lonely walkers nonetheless she is still my favorite!

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