This is an infamous Mountain Grouse, known for, well, not much. However, Mountain Grouse have one interesting trait - they aren't especially afraid of people. I've bumped into many little packs of Mountain Grouse in my hikes both in Glacier National Park and down in the Mission Mountains. What was a bit strange about this encounter, though, is that these birds actually REFUSED to get off the trail. I was heading up the trail (along with two friends) while the birds (5 in total) where heading down the trail. For a short minute, we had a "mexican standoff", with both sides watching the other. Then the birds decided we weren't going to hurt them so they walked right around our feet - stepping on mine, actually. This picture was taken while looking straight down at one of these rather fearless birds.

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