Ruffed Grouse - Hello and Good Evening

Be careful, won't you? There are foxes around. We have seen them travelling through these woods on several occasions lately.

Ruffed Grouse Chicks

Three grouse chicks out for an evening stroll with a parent. 

They seemed to enjoy exploring their new environment.

On a Drowsy Afternoon

A Ruffed Grouse pauses near some shrubbery for a quick nap in the sunshine.

Ruffed Grouse

Ruffed Grouse Family in the Garden

I counted eight grouse taking advantage of a sunny afternoon to do some feather maintenance.  They made shallow depressions in the dry soil and rolled around covering themselves with the dust, probably to get rid of mites. 

Ruffed Grouse

These pictures were taken one sunny afternoon in late January.  The Ruffed Grouse family paid us several visits this past winter when they were searching for food.  They invariably headed to the Saskatoon bushes at the edge of the garden or else to my Red Currant bush, both of which still held some berries.

Ruffed Grouse perched in the Saskatoon bushes

Balancing Act

Wary Grouse

hides in the underbrush 

Ruffed Grouse Sighting

 

A grouse perched in some brambles on the other side of the garden and picked at the rose hips, often stretching her neck to reach a particular piece of fruit.  She then half jumped, half flew down to land on top of the snow where she sat and fluffed out her feathers until she looked quite round.

Ruffed Grouse

Bonasa umbellus

This Ruffed Grouse was perched in a saskatoon berry bush trying to reach the berries.  It is amazing how such a big bird can manoeuvre along a slender branch without toppling off.

Winter Fare

Photographing the rose hips the other day made me think of the Ruffed Grouse family, and I wondered how they were doing.  I haven't seen them since late August.  The grouse feed mainly on birch tree catkins and dormant aspen buds as well as twigs, leaves and rose hips during the winter.  In previous years, I have also seen them eating the leftover red currants and saskatoon berries that had dried on the bushes and sunflower seeds under the bird feeders.

Ruffed Grouse Chicks in the garden this past August

Ruffed Grouse

at the edge of another road, stopped when we approached in the car, waited, then warily proceeded to walk, finally flew to the other side as we started up the car again.  The road was deserted except for us.

Ruffed Grouse

These pictures were taken on two separate occasions.

One evening about two weeks ago I heard and saw the Ruffed Grouse family near a stack of logs.

(please click on the images for better viewing)

They were instantly alert. Most scattered into the dense underbrush, all except for one bird, who, with slow, cautious steps and raised ruff proceeded along the top of the log pile before making a beeline to the relative safety of the woods.

Last Thursday, my husband and I saw them again when we went for an afternoon walk in the forest. We noticed a cloud of dust blowing across the trail in front of us.

As we got closer, we realized what was causing the dust storm. We had inadvertently surprised the grouse in the midst of a dust bath (the dust being some old fireplace ashes that we had deposited here last spring).

There must have been at least four or five grouse, but we only saw one in the dust bath. They immediately burst into the air and hid in the vegetation.

Camouflage
Downy feathers
Covered in ash dust

Ruffed Grouse with Chicks

Things are usually very quiet here, that is until the forest suddenly erupts with some disturbance or other and there are a few minutes of excitement before all is calm again. Lately it has been the crows causing a ruckus. I think they are keeping tabs on their babies which have left the nest.

Yesterday afternoon we heard some motherly clucking noises near the garden and were delighted to see Mrs. Grouse with her small offspring. The following photo shows only one of her chicks, but there were more hiding in the bushes when I took the picture. As soon as they noticed us, they hurried towards the hillside where the trees and brush would afford more protection.

Initially the chicks feed on insects, but later in the summer they are eating flowers, soft leaves, berries and seeds. They are particularly fond of clover. (information at Hinterland Who's Who)