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Ruffed grouse

The ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is the most widely distributed game bird in North America.[2] It is non-migratory. It is the only species in the genus Bonasa.

The ruffed grouse is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a "partridge", an unrelated phasianid, and occasionally confused with the grey partridge, a bird of open areas rather than woodlands.[3]


The ruffed grouse is the state game bird of Pennsylvania, United States.[4]

B. u. brunnescens (, 1935) - Vancouver Island (Canada)

Conover

B. u. castanea ( & Friedmann, 1943) - Olympic Peninsula (USA)

Aldrich

B. u. incana ( & Friedmann, 1943) - southeastern Idaho to central Utah (USA)

Aldrich

B. u. labradorensis (Ouellet, 1991) - (Canada)

Labrador Peninsula

B. u. mediana (, 1940) - north-central USA

Todd

B. u. monticola (, 1940) - central towards east-central USA

Todd

B. u. obscura (, 1947) - northern Ontario (Canada)

Todd

B. u. phaios ( & Friedmann, 1943) - southeastern British Columbia (Canada) to south-central Idaho and eastern Oregon (USA)

Aldrich

B. u. sabini (, 1829) - western coast of Canada and USA

Douglas

B. u. togata (, 1766) - north-central and northeastern USA and southeastern Canada

Linnaeus

B. u. umbelloides (, 1829) - southeastern Alaska (USA) through central Canada to central Oregon and northwestern Wyoming (USA)

Douglas

B. u. umbellus (, 1766) - east-central USA

Linnaeus

Bonasa umbellus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1766 12th edition of Systema Naturae.[5] He classified it as Tetrao umbellus, placing it in a subfamily with Eurasian grouse. The genus Bonasa was applied by British naturalist John Francis Stephens in 1819.[6] Ruffed grouse is the preferred common name because it applies only to this species. Misleading vernacular names abound, however, and it is often called partridge (sometimes rendered pa'tridge, or shortened to pat),[7] pheasant, or prairie chicken, all of which are properly applied to other birds.[8] Other nicknames for ruffed grouse include drummer or thunder-chicken.[9]


The ruffed grouse has 13 recognized subspecies:[10]

State birds

Sage grouse

Upland hunting

Henninger, W.F. (1906). (PDF). Wilson Bulletin. 18 (2): 47–60.

"A preliminary list of the birds of Seneca County, Ohio"

Ohio Ornithological Society (2004): .

Annotated Ohio state checklist

State Symbols of Pennsylvania: State Bird, The Ruffed Grouse

PDF fulltext

. Internet Bird Collection.

"Ruffed grouse media"

at VIREO (Drexel University)

Ruffed grouse photo gallery

– Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Ruffed Grouse Species Account

Ruffed grouse hen video Appalachian Mountains, Floyd Virginia

at IUCN Red List maps

Interactive range map of Bonasa umbellus