By Rick Baetsen This image was taken on June 21st, 2003 at about eight o’clock in the evening. The location was in the dense black spruce (Picea mariana) and Tamarack (Larix laricina) forest on the shores of Lake Superior at Pukaskwa National Park, near the mouth of the Pic River, Heron Bay, Ontario. On a hike in the evening of one of the longest days of the year, I came upon, in the distance a grouse in a brooding posture along the edge the trail. I assumed it was a ruffed grouse, as it had been the only grouse species I have observed at this location in trips to this area since 1984, although the boreal forest conifers seem to be more like that of the habitat of the spruce grouse. As, I approached with the camera, flash and tripod, the hen bird rose up, exposing five, very small chicks under her that soon scattered. The hen quickly assumed a distraction posture showing terminal tail banding, and started vocalizing, some similar to the hen’s spring territorial calls. It was not a ruffed grouse with chicks (which was the purpose of my trip north into Ontario-to capture on film ruffed grouse hens brooding with very small chicks), but this was a SPRUCE GROUSE (Dendragapus canadensis). This was an even better experience and filming opportunity, as I had never observed a spruce grouse hen with chicks of this very young age. The hen used her distraction display to lead me into the black spruce forest, with the ground covered with Club moss (Lycopodium clavatum), Cow Parsnip (Maianthemum canadense), and Blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) The forest was dense in most places, creating heavy shade, but there were many small openings within the forest. The hen tended to work the edge of these openings and I followed her, though keeping a watchful eye for the chicks that I knew would soon find their way back to the hen. I set up my camera, focusing on the hen, and waited, and soon the chicks, one at a time, quickly climbed under the hen to be brooded. I watched the hen for about twenty minutes, with the chicks all carefully tucked under the hen’s breast feathers. I took a number of images, with a small telephoto lens, and fill flash, with a very nice groundcover background. At this point the hen rose to her feet and moved a very short distance and then settled down in a more open location. The chicks that had been left behind, all started slowly moving towards the hen. I quickly set up the camera on her again, in hopes of getting an image of a chick or chicks around the hen. I knew that the chicks would soon again be buried in the hen’s breast feathers, as she would be brooding them for safety and warmth. A couple of the chicks had approached from behind the hen and were soon underneath her. These two chicks came in so quickly and from an angle that there was no chance for an image to be taken. A third chick quickly approached from the rear, jumped up on the hen’s tail and walked up into the middle of the hen’s back. I quickly focused and exposed frame, and no more that a second or two later took a second shot of this very special moment. I had no sooner taken a second image, when the chick jumped off the hens back and also climbed under to be brooded. The other two birds soon joined the others. I had been with the birds about thirty minutes, and taken nice images of the hen brooding, images of the chicks, and then the image of the chick on the hens back. As the sun started to set into Lake Superior, the daylight started to fade, the light winds let faded, the biting insects got real bad, and the temperature started to chill. I left the hen and chicks under the branches of a black spruce tree. I have had an interest in the grouse of North America; I have been filming the upper Great Lakes Region grouse species for 26 years. I have taken some nice images of ruffed grouse drumming and strutting on logs in the hardwood forests, sharp-tailed grouse dancing at sunrise on grasslands, and spruce grouse displaying in the boreal forests, but I knew when I took this image of the spruce grouse hen, with a very young chick on its back, that this was a truly unique natural moment, that I was very fortunate to have been able to witness and capture it on film. RICK BAETSEN P.O. Box 623 WALLOON LAKE, MICHIGAN 49796 Phone 231.535.2123 All images & text in this Northern Michigan Birding Bird Profile are owned by Rick Baetsen. Rick specializes in nature photography and his photographs can be purchased online at Rick Baetsen Wildlife & Nature Photography