This forest grouse has a fan-shaped tail and red or gray color forms. In breeding season, males drum their wings to court females.
It occurs in red and gray color forms and has a dark band on its fan-shaped tail. Breeding males raise a black neck ruff.
Male Ruffed Grouse stand on logs or other raised surfaces and rapidly move their wings, producing low drumming sounds through air movement. This non-vocal display attracts females and advertises a territory.
In spring 2011, researchers measured 191 sound-pressure levels from 13 wild males near Buck Lake in western Alberta, Canada. They approached from the front, behind and side and corrected measurements for distance. The results were published in 2012.
The sound was stronger in front of and behind the birds than at their sides. Across males, mean sound-pressure level at the side was about 7 decibels lower than in front. The drumming therefore radiated most strongly along the bird’s front-to-back axis.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission emphasizes young forests that provide food and protective cover. West Nile virus is also a conservation concern. Its habitat-planning approach prioritizes sites with lower disease risk and nearby source populations. Maintaining suitable habitat therefore involves considering forest age, landscape and local disease conditions together.