Oregon Ruffed Grouse

Sitting on top of a log, a ruffed grouse is standing tall “drumming”—beating its wings to create a thump-like sound.  The wings are moving quickly in the photo and are a blur.  The grouse is primarily reddish-brown in color, with light gray spots on its back and gray tips on its wings.

NPS/Neal Herbert

The ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) was one of several game birds that the journal writers of the Lewis abd Clark Expedition often referred to as “pheasants.”

This medium-sized member of the family Phasianidae, which includes pheasants, quail, partridges, and turkeys, has a chunky body (17–20 inches long) that is well-camouflaged by reddish-brown to gray streaking and mottling. Its head feathers form a crest and its tail ends in a distinct dark band. More prominent in males, a dark, glossy tuft of neck feathers can be raised into a collar-like ruff—hence the name, “ruffed" grouse.

In the mornings and evenings male ruffed grouse can be heard “drumming.” Perched securely on an elevated spot, like a log or boulder, the male braces its tail and rapidly beats its wings back and forth to create an accelerating series of thump-like sounds. Miniature sonic booms create these sounds as air rushes into the sudden vacuum created by fast wingbeats. Drumming serves to guard territory and attract mates, and can be heard year-round, though most often during breeding.

This short video from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology shows a ruffed grouse as it drums: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruffed_Grouse/sounds#