Ruffed Grouse aka. Patridgde, aka. Pheasant, aka. Prairie Chicken (all colloq., inaccurate) aka. Thunder-chicken
East Glacier Park, Montana, USA
August 2023
Member of the Turkey, Grouse, and Partridge Family
§A Pack of Grouse§
★The State Game Bird of Pennsylvania★ (Ranked the worst state bird by this website, due to not being a state bird (Pennsylvania does not have one)
★The most widely distributed game bird in North America★
~True Bird Fact~ They are described as an "immensely popular game bird" by allaboutbirds.org, and I see no reason to argue with that characterization, given that they appear to have an enormous organization named after them. Yes, you heard me, The Roughed Grouse Society exists, and appears to have an extremely slick website, and a history of working with state governments to improve forest management to create more appropriate grouse habitats.
Yes, these are hunters, which is not really my thing, but I think the lesson to take here is that a bird species thrives when attention and care is paid to it, although maybe not for ideal reasons in this case. Anyway, this aforementioned website is filled with great quotes. Like this one, about the birds comfort with humans "they can still be killed with a canoe paddle or thrown stones in Minnesota wilderness forests, and are not considered much of a sporting bird in western mountains and north into Canada due to their confiding “fool-hen” nature."
And this one about Ruffed Grouse chicks "The chicks are precocial, which means that as soon as they have dried following hatching they are ready to leave the nest and start feeding themselves. Grouse chicks are not much larger than a man’s thumb when they leave the nest. They are surprisingly mobile and may be moving farther than 1/4 mile a day by the time they are 3 or 4 days old. They begin flying when about 5 days old, and resemble giant bumble bees in flight."
I also learned that "Ruffed Grouse are almost exclusively “flower-eaters,” living on the dormant flower buds or catkins of trees such as the aspens, birches, cherries, ironwood and filberts. Extensive feeding upon flower-buds in apple orchards caused Ruffed Grouse to be placed on the list of bountied animals in some New England states at one time."
Man, what a great website.
So anyway, I went to Montana, to Glacier National Park specifically, to continue my bucket list dream of visiting all the National Parks. Didn't actually get that many birds there, due to not really taking a birds-first approach, but I did get some, that I'll be posting in the coming (months? years?). I did also capture some strange non-bird animals, that maybe you'd have a passing interest in. Like this one
Moose (Shiras subspecies)
Fishercap Lake, Glacier National Park, Swiftcurrent, Montana, USA
August 2023
Member of the Deer Family
§A Herd of Moose§
★Largest and Heaviest Member of the Deer Family★
{Etymology Corner} from the Algonquin "Moosh" from the Innu people. Meaning "stripper and eater of bark"
