ruffed grouse charge

[gollwoods]

i got charged by a ruffed grouse for some reason, the other day on a smoky mountain hike up on ledge bald, don't know why since she was pretty far off trail and I heard her making some clicking noise then it lowered it's head and fluffed out her feathers and charged right out at me hissing like crazy, it sort of looked like a racoon or something for a second, after a 10 ft run at me it stopped and turned away to walk off clicking every few seconds. very wierd.

[WingedMonkey]

She wanted to distract you from where here nest was hidden.

[Slo-go'en]

Yeah, they can scare the crap out of ya when they come out of no where and suddenly are in your face!

[johnnybgood]

She wanted to distract you from where here nest was hidden.

Bingo ! I've seen this too . For some birds the mother will act out an injury by flapping their wings trying to distract intruders.

[dale1627]

I once made a horrible mistake while 4X4'ing in an area called Bumpa$$ Cove. I saw a young turkey in the middle of the trail and decided to get out and investigate. My young uneducated mind allowed me to have fleeting thoughts of taking the turkey and domesticating it. I had visions of having this pet wild turkey
that would follow me around like a dog. I'd be the envy of everyone that I knew. I picked it up and thought about putting it in a box until I could get it home. All dreams evaporated when I heard a blood curdling squall and saw the biggest maddest wild turkey ever charging at me. Mom was not happy. I was scared. I set the youngun down to pacify mom and ran like mad. She chased me for what seemed like miles. I learned a lesson....

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[rocketsocks]

Geese,ducks,swans,chickens,they all do this,but the goose is especially nasty,and you don't have to get that close,the only defense for this is,run!

[Tenderheart]

For some birds the mother will act out an injury by flapping their wings trying to distract intruders.

Right on! The mother will often appear to have a broken wing as she runs away in order to entice you to follow her away from her nest or young. It is very startling when you first encounter this. A buddy of mine thought he was being attacked by a roadrunner.