I came across a funny sight today. While out in the backcountry I came across the scene in the above photo, a grouse head poking out of the snow. From a distance I thought it was a dark piece of bark, but as I got closer I realized it was a grouse head looking at me. I went on by, pretending not to notice and dug my camera out, then turned around and snapped the photo. As I approached, the bird popped out of the snow and angled away from me until it was behind cover, then it flushed.
There had been a fresh snow the evening before, so you could read what had happened. After it had snowed, probably about dark yesterday evening the grouse dove out of a nearby aspen tree and plunked directly into the snow. It probably spent the night under the snow in its snow cave, then as the day was warming up, it climbed up and was just sitting under the snow with its periscope up, scanning for predators. Numerous times I have found evidence of them diving under the snow during bad weather, but I have never seen them stay under the snow and poke their head out and sit look-out.
