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Ruffed Grouse

Bonasa umbellus ORDER: GALLIFORMES FAMILY: PHASIANIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

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Many people's first experience with the Ruffed Grouse is when it explodes from the forest floor in a flurry of wings. Often, it's gone before they can turn around. The grouse's cryptic coloration and slow, deliberate walk make it virtually invisible.

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Calls

Male drums with wings to produce a series of deep thumping sounds that increase in tempo.

Other

  • Male drumming
    Recorded by Jonathon R. Storm
  • Male drumming
    Recorded by William W. H. Gunn
    British Columbia, Canada May 1962
  • Male drumming
    Recorded by Randolph Scott Little
    • Courtesy of Macaulay Library
    © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
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Search the Macaulay Library online archive for more sounds and videos