Ruffed Grouse 001

The ruffed grouse are out and about drumming loudly to find a mate. I was looking in Cascade River State Park to see if any of the grouse had returned from previous years. To my surprise I found a new one whose coloration is fairly rare. There are five color phases for ruffed grouse. Independent of the color phase most have black feathers on their neck ruff and tail band. Less than 5% have the rare cinnamon color. Other terms are copper, bronze or chocolate. This is only the second one that I have seen in a lifetime of photographing ruffed grouse.

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Ruffed Grouse 002

The one I found at Cascade goes back and forth on two different logs each day to mark his territory and try and call in a female.

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Ruffed Grouse 003

They stay perfectly still on the log but their wings beat faster and faster creating a sound like an internal combustion engine trying to start. The sound comes from an implosion of air as the wings go up creating a vacuum. I am sure that many of the campers in Cascade who aren’t familiar with ruffed grouse hear the sound from their tents in the morning and wonder what in the world is making that noise.

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This photo was taken early in the morning at a slow shutter speed giving the feathers a more copper glow. I think it is such a beautiful bird.

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If a female approaches they go into full display and you can really see the cinnamon colors.

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Ruffed Grouse 005

I love the way they fan out their tails.

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Ruffed Grouse 007

Here is a close-up of the neck ruff.

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95% of the ruffed grouse have the black feathers on the neck ruff and tail band like this one so I feel very fortunate to be have been able to photograph this cinnamon colored grouse.

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