I saw my ptarmigan again today. It was the third day in a row that we met on the trail, at about the same place. It no longer flushes from me now, it just sort of waddles off on its feathered feet looking up at me the entire time. It was only two feet away from me when we passed each other today.

I didn’t even threaten it with a camera. Mainly because I didn’t feel like taking my gloves off, or digging the camera out of the coat. I just told the bird, “Good afternoon. See you tomorrow”, then we both went our separate ways.