A GROUSE STORY by Barry Bain 
     
    
   
   
    
     After a twenty-five minute drive from the office, I reached my 
     
     destination, pulled off to the shoulder of the road, and cut the 
     
     engine. I was to meet a client regarding site preparation on a 
     
     wet site for hedgerow planting. 
     
    

    
     I wasn't there a minute when I was startled by the sudden 
     
     sound of flapping wings, then the sound of a bird landing on the 
     
     rail of the box of my pick-up. I turned my head very slowly in 
     
     fear of frightening off whatever bird landed on the truck. There, 
     
     about two feet from me through the rear window, was a: Ruffed 
     
     Grouse. The grouse hopped from the rail of the truck box to a 
     
     plastic tool box, the type that stretches from one side to just 
     
     about the other side and is about level with the base of the rear 
     
     cab window. Now the bird was no more than a foot from me. As I 
     
     watched in almost disbelief, knowing that the bird had to have seen 
     
     me, it jumped back on the rail, made one trip around the perimeter 
     
     of the truck box, and bounced back onto the tool box. 
     
    

    
     While watching the bird I realized that a substantial amount 
     
     of time had passed with still no sign of my appointment. I decided 
     
     to go down to the community store and inquire about where my client 
     
     lived. 
     
    

    
     Starting my engine, the bird 
     
     flew from the truck. As I was 
     
     driving down the road, I looked in 
     
     my rear view mirror and there, 
     
     flying down the road behind me about 
     
     two feet of the ground, was the 
     
     grouse. I stopped the truck and 
     
     backed up the road to where I was 
     
     parked originally desiring to know 
     
     what my new found friend would do 
     
     next. I did not have long to wait. 
     
     Up to the rail, to the tool box, he —- 
     
     landed and pecked at the window. —— ~— — ~ l \l 
     
     Going through my head at this time was Alfred Hitchcock's "The 
     
     Birds". What's going on? 
     
    

    
     There, shortly after arriving on the seen with many apologies 
     
     for his delay was my client. In the course of telling him about my 
     
     experience, he told me what you might already have guessed; this 
     
     grouse is tame. A man in the area was building a new home on a 
     
     wooded lot and befriended this bird by feeding him everyday. Now 
     
     anyone stopping within this bird's territory is liable to be 
     
     greeted by this feathered footed fowl. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     MINI CENSUS OF PIPING PLOVERS by Dan McAskill 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Island Nature Trust commenced this season's Piping Plover 
     
     Guardianship Program with an evening for guardians and potential 
     
     guardians at Ravenwood on March 31. This session was followed by