It’s not everyone that gets a friendly Ruffed Grouse visiting their backyard, but Bob Gilreath does and he was lucky enough to get some photos of it when it was showing off its display with feathers all ruffed up. Here in the Copper Country, these birds are often referred to as a Partridge. They are well adapted to winter and are non-migratory. They sleep in self-made snow tunnels when conditions permit and grow insulating feathers that thicken around its nostrils and legs as temperatures begin to drop. They even grow projections off the sides of their toes in the winter, which look like combs and help them to walk across the snow, like snowshoes. Interesting little critters.

When it comes to interesting, Dr. Nat is hard to beat. We join her in a recently uploaded video when she visited the Quincy Mine in Hancock, which produced native copper from 1846 to 1945. Another great geology lesson for us all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On the first day of Christmas Bob Gilreath gave to me, a Ruffed

Grouse in a pear tree. Have a safe and Happy T-day everyone!

…and another interesting video from down under. TY Dr. Nat.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all in the pasty.com family!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Turkey Day!

That bird is showing off for sure. That's so cool~
Thanks Bob!

And DrNat...just brilliant!!

Very cool pictures.

Thanks for the tour Dr Nat, cuz I'm not
going into that mine myself. So I'll just
watch your videos and feel safe at home.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and the Capt. And
also, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my
friends in the pasty.com world.

Happy Thanksgiving all.
No turkey this year.
We had a more traditional "brunch" instead.
The sticky buns were great.