On a recent road trip I spotted a head poking above the grass along the side of the road, it was a mother grouse. Never one to pass up an opportunity, I drove down the road and turned back looking for the hen. She was standing in the same place, so I pulled over and parked about 40 yards from her. I got out of the car and as I approached her she moved away, keeping the same distance away between us. When I got to the spot where she was originally I stopped and checked out the area. Sure enough, I spotted two chicks hidden in the grass, standing completely still, as if frozen in time. I lifted my camera and took a few shots. When I looked up to see what the hen was doing she was walking right towards me, almost like, "Hey, get a good shot, these are my babies". I took a couple more photos of the chicks, looked down and not two feet away was the hen grouse. She started to cluck like a chicken and I clucked back...after a brief, friendly conversation I moved back toward the car and she flew off, landing not far from her chicks. (See image below of one of the chicks.)

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