Ruffed Grouse
Bonasa umbellus
Also known as: Birch Partridge
About This Species
This forest grouse is best known for the male's spring drumming display, a deep accelerating thump produced by wing beats from a favoured log, audible well before the bird is seen. It favours young deciduous or mixed woodland with dense understorey, especially stands with aspen, and spends most of its time on or near the ground. Dawn and dusk in April and May, listening near forest edges and second-growth stands, gives the best chance of locating a drumming male.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Regulations differ across its US and Canadian range, with many states and provinces treating it as a game species with defined seasons, so applicable rules should be checked locally rather than assumed.
- Observers should stay well back from a drumming log or a hen with chicks and avoid lingering, since flushing repeatedly can cause a male to abandon a display site.
- Using a stationary, quiet approach and leaving well before the bird shows signs of alarm is the safest general practice.
LCAvesGalliformesPhasianidae
Seasonal Activity
626,594 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Phasianidae
Photo
(c) Silas Wareham, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Silas Wareham
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.