CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH A RUFFED GROUSE

By Leonard Weber

While I was working in Spokane, Washington from 2002 to 2004, my favorite weekend birding area was Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. It was at Turnbull, in April 2003, that I had one of my most memorable spring birding experiences.

In the early afternoon of April 12, I was walking alone on the Columbia Plateau Trail - an old railway that has been converted into a bicycle and hiking trail and passes through a section of Turnbull. About a mile and half into the refuge, I saw a Ruffed Grouse emerging from the shrubs on the right side. I stood perfectly still, afraid that it would take off with its usual loud burst, when it saw or heard me.

At first, the Grouse paid me no attention. It came up onto the raised trail, pecking in the gravel for a while, and then went back off to the side. I watched, surprised, as it began to eat petals of spring flowers. I had not known that flowers were a part of its diet.

When the grouse returned to the trail, it was much closer to me and clearly aware that I was there. Slowly, it walked right up to me clucking softly. As I stood still, it walked around me three times. Curious about how it would react, I started moving. It did not move away at all. I squatted down to get a close-up look. We were now close enough to touch and I put out my hand. It would not let me touch it, but it did nothing more than pull its head back a little.

Now that I knew that the grouse would not be frightened off by my movements, I wondered how it would react to sound. So I started talking. Again the grouse showed no fear. I asked if it wanted to walk with me and started down the trail slowly. It followed. It would run to catch up with me, then stop. Whenever I spoke saying, “Come walk with me,” it would run to catch up again.

We went up the trail about 100 yards in this manner before I told my grouse companion that I was turning back, returning to the spot where it had joined me. It accompanied me back and continued to stay with me when I stopped. This first close encounter with the Ruffed Grouse had now lasted about 40 minutes.

I said that I was going to continue walking, take a side trail a little distance ahead and that it was welcome to come along if it wanted. It started to follow me again, but I was now giving it less attention. While I was watching a small flock of Mountain Chickadees, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Red-breasted Nuthatches, I noticed that it had fallen back. This time I did not say, “Come walk with me,” and it went off the side of the trail and disappeared in the brush.

The second encounter took place on April 27, fifteen days later. I was back on the same trail. While I was not really expecting to see the grouse again, I had timed my walk to be in the same location at about the same time of day.

When I got near the spot where I had first seen the grouse a couple weeks before, I heard a sound behind me. Turning around, I saw it there on the trail about 15 feet away. I hadn’t seen it when I went by, but it had seen or heard me and had come right out. This day it wasn’t looking for food. It came right up to me and its business was with me.

I was surprised that it came straight at me appearing to be more agitated. It even pecked at me, something that it had not done the previous time. After it pecked me in the back of the leg, I got the point that it wanted me to move. So I started walking. This time when it ran after me, it wasn’t like it was catching up, rather it appeared to be chasing me away.

I walked one direction on the trail and then the other to see if the bird was trying to move me in a particular direction or prevent me from going in a particular direction. It ran after me both ways. Apparently, it was just trying to get me out of there. So when I started walking faster, it stopped running after me. When I looked back, it was leaving the trail on the same side as last time.

Because the bird appeared in the same location each time, I think that it was probably the same Ruffed Grouse both times. Since those two encounters, I have reflected from time to time on how best to understand the behavior that I witnessed.

I suspect that the grouse’s behavior during the second encounter was related to the protection of nesting territory. That behavior did not surprise me much, except that it appeared to be so different from the earlier meeting. I have heard that grouse are sometimes quite “tame” in areas where they do not encounter many humans, so perhaps it was as curious and unthreatened the first time as it appeared. Then, two weeks later, nesting season had arrived and its behavior was different.

On the other hand, maybe I misread the behavior the first time. Perhaps it wasn’t walking with me, but trying to chase me away - just in a less intense and less aggressive manner than it exhibited the second time.

Regardless of how the behavior is best understood, I am not likely to forget soon my two April encounters with a Washington Ruffed Grouse.