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This is the time of year that I spend photographing the drumming of the male ruffed grouse. Due to the colder than average temperatures we still have lots of snow on the ground. I checked out several logs this week and didn’t find one drumming grouse. I decided to put together a collage of my favorite drumming grouse photos from the last few years.

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This one used a beautiful moss-covered rock located in Cascade River State Park for about five years before he went blind in one eye.

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He was pretty faithful each year using the same spot and was quite tame.

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He would even let me get right in front of him for photos.

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Once another male grouse showed up and he puffed up and then chased the other male off.

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A late snowstorm didn’t stop him from drumming. The wings don’t strike anything. The sound comes from an implosion of air as the wings beat very rapidly. You can see how the snow has been blown away due to the wind from his wings.

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I really like this photo with his eye showing through the feathers.

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This grouse was in one of the campsites in the Grand Marais Rec Park. I spent enough time with him that he became quite tame also.

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Here the setting sun gave just enough light to make for an interesting photo.

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One day while I was sitting on the ground in front of him taking photos he got upset and came towards me all puffed up. I kept backing up and he followed me for about a hundred feet. Then he went back to drumming.

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This grouse was just a few hundred feet from our house. After I spent days watching and photographing him he became so tame that I could sit on his log and he would keep right on drumming. I told several other photographers about him and two dozen people came to watch or take photos that spring.

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This is the same spot after an 8 inch snowstorm.

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The snow didn’t seem to bother him at all.

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He used the same log for another five years before disappearing.

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I included this photo because it shows a different color phase of ruffed grouse. They call this one copper or chocolate. Ruffed grouse actually have about 36 color phase variations.

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