Thunder chickens hide themselves under thick layers of snow in the extreme conditions that dominate the Appalachian and the Rocky mountains. Skiers often get startled when they suddenly see a drummer running past in fear. And fool hens? They grow shoes in winter and their intestines undergo changes to match with their high-fiber diet.
Right. All this may sound insensible to you– what are these “thunder chickens”, “drummers” and “fool hens” all about? And how on earth can birds grow shoes? Well, in the world of spruce grouse vs ruffed grouse, you will learn about all this and more. So stop grousing about, and let’s begin, shall we?
Contents
Spruce Grouse and Ruffed Grouse: At-A-Glance
Grouses belong to the Order Galliformes, and family Phasianidae. These terrestrial birds, although large, can fly about at speeds of 112 km/hr, and can migrate for hundreds of kilometers. They are birds of cold areas and can be found in the temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, occupying pine forests and mountain-sides.
Source: @birdz.okanagan
Spruce grouse, also known as Canada goose or fool hen, frequent the boreal forests or Taiga of North America. As such, pine, spruces and larches are their favorite habitat, and as they are arboreal, they are often spotted perched high above on trees. They are mostly brown and gray, with black-and-white streaks on the undersides. They have a total of 6 subspecies.
Source: @netzblattfotografie.de
While spruce grouse belongs to the genus Canachites, ruffed grouse belongs to the genus Bonasa. Bonasas have 13 recognised subspecies. They have found their homes in the forests near the Appalachian mountains across Canada and Alaska. Ruffed grouses are mostly gray and brown too, like their cousins spruce grouse, thus are often compared.
How Are Spruce Grouse and Ruffed Grouse Similar?
Both spruce and ruffed grouses, being close cousins, share a number of commonalities. They are both quiet most of the time during the year, and also gentle–often spotted perched on tree branches or resting on the ground. They both are quite timid too– they run for cover or fly off to a tree if humans approach them too close.
Both the cousins prefer similar habitats– mixed forests of conifers and deciduous trees are where these arboreal, terrestrial birds are mostly found. They have heavy bodies and short wings, the reason why they cannot fly long distances. Both the grouses prefer a plant-based diet, surviving on fruits and needles mostly. Also, they both drum their wings during courtship.
Another very interesting similarity between the cousins is a feature concerning their feet, called the “snowshoes”. They both have feathers on their legs that extend to the tip of their toes. Also, during the fall season, these birds grow short and temporary lateral extensions or pectinations on their toes. This increases the surface area so that they can move about on snow easily.
Differences Between Spruce Grouse and Ruffed Grouse
Let’s shed some light on the differences between these two cousins.
Behavior
Spruce grouses, though timid, will allow humans to approach them as close as a few feet, but then they will either crouch low to the ground like a scaredy cat, or run and take flight immediately to a nearby fir tree. Unlike other birds, both spruce males and females can be equally territorial especially during mating and egg-laying seasons.
Spruce grouses are largely an arboreal species and are often spotted perched or moving about on tree branches— can be compared to leopards or even monkeys. They barely ever fly and forage mainly on the ground. They have several colors on their plumage, white and black mostly, that allow them to camouflage themselves from predators.
Source: @acouplewithoutborders
Ruffed grouses are like cartoon characters– when approached too close, they perk their heads up like chickens. When they feel threatened, which is most of the time, they crouch, extend their necks and run for cover as fast as their legs could take them. These birds are known to rest inside small snow houses in winter, and burst out and run, when disturbed.
They drum their wings all throughout the year but a little more during mating season. Females display their tail feathers too–which is quite odd in the avian world where females are usually the more subdued type.
One very interesting thing they do is dust their feathers to get rid of mites or other insects in their skin and feathers and they do that on sandy roadbeds. Every afternoon, they return to the same spot to bathe in dust and socialize within themselves.
Tail
One distinct difference between the tails of both the grouses in question is the color variation at the tips of their tails. Ruffed grouses have a white tail with a black band at the end of their tail feathers. On the other hand, and in complete reverse, spruce grouses have black tails with rufus or white tips. It is just the opposite, to emphasize.
Now, let’s talk about the more subtle differences. In the case of the spruce grouse, both males and females have black tail feathers with white or rufus tips. This could apply in the reverse too– sometimes males have similar colored tail bands as the females. Therefore, in the spruce grouse families, it is difficult to tell the male and female apart just by looking at their tails.
As for ruffed grouses, females have broken subterminal bands near the ends of their tails, while males have unbroken tail bands. Also, male tails are longer, measuring above 14.5 cm (around 6 inches), whereas females have tails measuring under 14 cm.
Another distinct way to tell the difference between male and female ruffed grouse is by searching for the number of white dots on their tails. Females have a single white dot on the rump (part located just above the tail), whereas males have several white dots on the rump.
Body Color
To point out the difference in a sentence— spruce grouses have an overall black-and-white plumage, whereas ruffed grouses largely have a brown-and-white plumage. This feature will act as a defining characteristic to tell the two close cousins apart.
Source: @birdingwild
Now, let’s elaborate on this. Female spruce grouse are often mixed up with ruffed grouses because they have the same colors on their body feathers as their relatives, which are gray, white and brown. Female spruce grouses are gray and brown above, and white and brown below. The undersides are barred with black, gray and buff streaks.
On the other hand, male spruce grouses have black streaks on their breast and throat regions, and their underparts are white with black streaks or bars. The feathers have white tips and they also flaunt white spots along the sides. Therefore, it is clear that male and female spruce grouses are highly sexually dimorphic and can be easily distinguished in large, open areas.
Ruffed grouses, as mentioned previously, have a brown and white appearance. They are brown on the upper sides, and white underneath. The birds have beautiful brown and gray spots and bars on their plumage. In the ruffed grouse families, sexual dimorphism is very low, and it is quite difficult to tell the two genders apart just by looking at their body colors.
Body Size
Ruffed grouses are larger than spruce grouses, and thus weigh more too.
Adult spruce grouses are 15 to 17 in length with a wingspan of 21.5 to 22.6 inches. Males weigh about 19-23 ounces, and females weigh 16-19 oz.
Ruffed grouses, on the other hand, are 2 to 3 inches longer than spruce grouses, flaunting a wingspan of 22 to 25 inches. They weigh 16 to 28 ounces. Males are larger than females.
Source: @bn_singh_photography
Head and Comb
Spruce grouses have scarlet combs above their eyes, whereas ruffed grouses have beautiful crests on their heads that can be raised and lowered as they wish.
Female spruce grouses are extensively barred on the head, whereas males have crimson superciliary comb, that are termed as “eyebrows”. Ruffed grouses, on the other hand, boast small feathers ruffled up at the top of their head, like a small crest. Both the genders have this crest with the males having a higher one. They raise the crest when alarmed.
Neck
Ruffed grouses are called “ruffed” for a reason. Both the males and females possess black ruff feathers on the sides of their necks. These bunch of neck feathers are quite prominent and puff up like a circular collar during courtship display. This feature resembles the ruffled collars that dominated English fashion in the 16th century.
Now, spruce grouses do not have a ruff on their neck. Their necks do look layered and puffed up at times, but they are not ruff neck feathers.
Diet
Spruce grouse’s staple source of nutrition is pine needles, whereas ruffed grouses usually settle for the other plant parts like buds or twigs, and of course soft fruits and acorns. Also, spruce grouses aim for products of conifers more, while ruffed grouses prefer deciduous.
Needles of jackpine and other conifers, like spruce, larch or fir are the favorite food items for spruce grouses. Between late autumn to early spring, they munch on pine needles exclusively, choosing short pine needles over longer ones. Spruce needles are also chosen because they are high in calcium, a mineral that mother grouses need to produce harder egg shells.
Spruce grouses choose to eat different parts of conifers in different seasons. In autumn, needles of yellowing larch are consumed as well. In seasons when they are consuming needles more than any other plant part, their intestines change to digest the needles better. Also, they store extra food in the crop, a pouch in their throat, and digest it during the night.
It is not like spruce grouses eat needles only. They also go for berries, seeds, mushrooms and insects. It is also quite talked about that right before laying eggs, female spruce grouses prefer to eat flowers from plants of Epigaea repens species only.
Ruffed grouses like the other parts of deciduous trees more, as mentioned above. They feed insects to their juveniles only, due to a high protein content. Ruffed grouses are known to consume plant parts that are toxic. A major winter-time food of the ruffed grouses is quaking aspen that has toxic compounds, and this feeding habit affects their population too.
Ruffed grouses have an interesting adaptation as well, to match with the nature of their diet. At the junction of small and large intestines, there are pouches that help them to digest more fibers from plant materials.
Habitat
Spruce grouses like forests, especially conifer forests. They also prefer elevated highlands and moist areas. Ruffed grouses like forests too, but they prefer deciduous forests. The latter also likes to inhabit the mountain sides of the Rocky mountains and the Appalachian mountains.
Thick conifer forests of spruce, fir and pine are frequented and inhabited by spruce grouses. In the winters, they are often spotted roosting on trees like the douglas fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine and the larches.
In the Northeastern states, they prefer to spend quality time in the low-lying tamaracks. In the temperate rainforests of Alaska, the birds like to roost in hemlock, cedar and Sitka spruce. In the Western Cordilleras, subalpine Engelmann spruce trees are largely chosen.
Pine and aspen are the favorite roosting spots of ruffed grouses. These birds like to spend a quiet time on the mountain-sides located in Alabama, Labrador, Utah, and Alaska. They spend winters in deep snow because snow provides insulation.
Calls
Spruce grouse females make a loud series of nasal clucks, and also sounds like “kuk kuk”, nasal purr, and shrill barks. Ruffed grouses are mostly quiet but females can squeal or hiss, and make sounds like “pete pete peta peta”. Mothers scold, coo and hum at their chicks.
Spruce Grouse vs Ruffed Grouse: Nesting And Brooding
The nesting and brooding segment has been kept separate for ease of understanding. Starting from courtship to the point where chicks hatch, the grouse females show extraordinary prowess.
Courtship
Spruce grouses clap their wings 1 or 2 times to attract female attention, whereas ruffed grouses drum their wings extremely fast. The clapping noises are quite loud, while the drumming noises are low-frequency sounds.
Spruce grouses clap their wings only a couple of times that can be heard from 150 meters away by humans. The male Canada spruce grouse generates soft whirring noises with their wings. The males then strut, display their feathers, swish their tails and also fly about short distances. Spruce grouse males are polygynous, meaning they mate with several females.
The courtship ceremonies of ruffed grouses are more well-known. The male grouse beats his wings a whopping 50 times in 8-11 seconds, and the speed increases with time! The drumming creates a low-frequency sound (thump thump thump) that can be picked up by females from 0.40 km away. The males do not make any other sound other than drumming in courtship.
The males drum to show their territorial presence to impress the females. When the males drum their wings, they choose an elevated spot like a log, a mound of dirt or a brush-covered rock, treating it like a performance stage.
Source: @colleengaraphoto
Nesting
Nesting habits of both spruce and ruffed grouses are similar– female parents take full responsibility of nesting and brooding. The males do not provide food or protection to the family– the entire process of bringing up the chicks is managed single-handedly by the mothers.
However the number of eggs laid and the appearance of the eggs differ.
Spruce grouse females become extremely territorial before and during laying eggs. They make high-pitched noises everyday at dusk and dawn to warn other birds and predators to stay away.
The females build the nests all by themselves at a location far away from the males and other females. They scratch a depression in the ground and lay eggs there.
The spruce grouse nest between May and July. They lay 4 to 8 eggs, one egg every 1 to 2 days later. The eggs have a light tawny background with dark brown splotches. They incubate the eggs for 21-23 days. During these days, mothers leave the nests unattended for 30 min, 3 times a day to look for food, which poses a lot of threat to the defenseless chicks.
Ruffed grouse nests in April, a couple of months earlier to the spruce grouse’s nesting time. After mating, females leave the males to find a safe nesting location. Nests are built within depressions of leaves near dense shrubs or at the base of a tree where predators can be spotted easily. 8 to 10 eggs are laid that are buff colored, and incubated for 24 to 26 days.
Brooding
Single parenting is the key word in the world of grouses. Females not only build nests all by themselves, they also bring up their chicks single-handedly.
Spruce grouses cover their nests with vegetation on the top and around the sides, to make the nests look less conspicuous and feel more warm. In the case of the ruffed grouse family, the fledglings start foraging right after they hatch– so mothers need not be too worried.
Offspring
Chicks in the grouse family are fierce– they have their eyes open as they hatch, and within hours or days, they start flying and foraging. Spruce grouse fledglings have more yellowish and orange hues on their feathers, whereas ruffed chicks appear more brownish.
Spruce grouse chicks have their eyes wide open as soon as they make their way out of the egg-shells. They are fully covered in down feathers and weigh 15 gm right after hatching. Within the next 24 hours, chicks leave the nest to forage with their mothers, and after 6-8 days they start flying! Some 70 to 100 days later, the chicks become independent.
Ruffed chicks are also fully feathered and can forage right after hatching. After only 5 days they can fly, and can cover long distances measuring about a quarter mile per day,
Spruce Grouse vs Ruffed Grouse: Difference Table
The table below summarizes all differences for your convenience.
| Features | Spruce Grouse | Ruffed Grouse |
| Behavior | More approachable | Less friendly, scaredy |
| Tail | White tail, black tips | Black tail, white or rufus tips |
| Body Color | Black and White | White, Brown and Gray |
| Body Size | Smaller, lighter | Larger, heavier |
| Head | Crimson combs over eyes | Crest on their heads |
| Neck | No ruff present | Has a ruff collar |
| Diet | Needles of conifers mainly | Parts of deciduous trees |
| Habitat | Conifer forests | Deciduous, mountain-sides |
| Calls | Kuk kuk kuk | Peta peta peta, hiss |
| Courtship | Clap wings 1-2 times | Fast drumming of wings |
| Nesting | Eggs are tawny, dark brown splotches on the top | Buff colored eggs |
| Chicks | Yellowish feathers | Brownish feathers |
Thoughts
Spruce grouse vs ruffed grouse– these birds are phenomenal, though not widely known or studied. They both are gentle and timid birds that demonstrate eye-catching courtship behaviors and a phenomenal chick-rearing style. Though the males do not contribute to running a family much, but because females are fiercely independent, the problems are roundabout managed.
The differences lie mainly in their plumage, and the presence or absence of certain features like combs or crests. Spruce grouse has a striking black-and-white appearance, whereas ruffed grouses have more subdued tones in their body. Both these birds grow breath-taking adaptations to match their diet and survive in the harsh alpine forests and mountain-sides.
Similar Post:
