Birdr
  • Today
  • Life List
  • Community
Sign in
  • Today
  • Life List
  • Map
  • Trip Planner
  • Community
  • Field Guide
  • Skills
  • Gear Guides
  • Merch
Sign in
Made for birdrs, by birdrs  ·  Birdr ·  v0.1
Field GuideBlogAboutGear GuidesTrip PlannerCommunityBirdr ProPrivacy PolicyTermsSupport
Back to Field Guide
Ruffed Grouse

Ruffed Grouse

Bonasa umbellus

Audubon Illustration

Audubon illustration of Ruffed Grouse

John James Audubon, Birds of America (1827-1838). Public domain.

Range & Recent Observations

Ruffed Grouseis a year-round resident and doesn't follow a migration flyway. See the Range tab for where it lives.

Last Spotted Near You

View on eBirdWikipedia

About the 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. It is not 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. The ruffed grouse is the state game bird of Pennsylvania, United States.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name
Bonasa umbellus
Family
Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies
Order
Galliformes

Similar species

Other members of the pheasants, grouse, and allies family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

  • Black Francolin Francolinus francolinus
  • Blue-breasted Quail Synoicus chinensis
  • Brown Quail Synoicus ypsilophorus
  • Chukar Alectoris chukar
  • Common Quail Coturnix coturnix
  • Dusky Grouse Dendragapus obscurus
  • Erckel's Spurfowl Pternistis erckelii
  • Golden Pheasant Chrysolophus pictus
  • Gray Francolin Ortygornis pondicerianus
  • Gray Partridge Perdix perdix
  • Gray Peacock-Pheasant Polyplectron bicalcaratum
  • Greater Prairie-Chicken Tympanuchus cupido

Know when the Ruffed Grouse turns up near you

Add it to your watchlist and draw an alert zone around the places you actually bird. Birdr checks eBird reports and tells you when one is seen inside it.

How rare bird alerts work →

Gear for spotting Ruffed Grouse

Optics

Best Binoculars for Beginners

You don't need to spend a fortune. These four pairs will get you birding confidently on day one.

8 min readRead guide
Cameras

Cameras for Bird Photography

From phone adapters to dedicated rigs, here's what actually works for capturing birds in the field.

12 min readRead guide
Optics

Spotting Scopes for Distance Birding

Essential for shorebirds, raptors, and anything too far for binoculars. Our tested picks.

9 min readRead guide