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Males find logs, we call them drumming logs, where they can get up to do their audio display. If you can imagine seeing this bird, which is really hard to see a bird drumming because it’s hard to find the log, because these guys are very, very shy. Each of the thumps that you hear is the bird beating his wings. So, one thump is one beat of his wings, and as he gets going the wings beat faster and faster until it makes that brrrr sound.
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I did have an opportunity to listen to a grouse through headphones with a microphone right beside the log. I could hear the grouse walk up to the log and then hop on to it. And then he started drumming and it just blew my mind, it was just the coolest thing, just to be up close and personal with this grouse. It was really neat.
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“Everyone knows…that the autumn landscape in the north woods is the land, plus a red maple, plus a Ruffed Grouse.”—Aldo Leopold
Ruffed Grouse are beautiful, richly patterned birds that are common across much of North America from the Appalachians and Rockies to Quebec and Alaska. They have fancy neck feathers that they can fluff up into a “ruff” when displaying to a mate. But perhaps their most-loved trait is their ability to create a low, accelerating drumming sound that carries through the forest understory. It’s beautiful, a little mysterious, and a delightful accompaniment to a morning walk. But how do they do it?
Male Ruffed Grouse drum in order to claim territory and advertise to females. They typically stand on a fallen log, brace with their tail, and flap their wings vigorously. It’s tempting to think that the grouse is actually beating its wings against the log to create the sound like a drummer playing a kettle drum.
But the truth is even more impressive. The wings don’t strike anything at all, but they move so quickly through the air that they create a momentary vacuum. As the downstroke ends and upstroke begins, air rushes in to fill the vacuum and makes a low thump, sometimes compared to a miniature sonic boom or thunderclap. It’s a complex skill to learn—young males have to practice, and may make only erratic sounds for a while until they master it.
A grouse’s drumroll begins slowly, with 2–3 widely spaced beats that you might not at first recognize as part of a series. Then the thumps start to accelerate until they blend together into a low buzz. The whole display takes about 10 seconds, during which the grouse will beat his wings up to 50 times, according to Birds of the World.
A Ruffed Grouse’s drumming is a classic sound of spring, peaking in early April in the south of the range and as late as May in its northern haunts. But it’s possible to hear drumming throughout the year, and there’s often a second peak in drumming around the autumn equinox as shrinking day lengths approach those of springtime. Males may even drum during moonlit nights.
