Bonasa umbellus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
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. Bonasa umbellus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1766 12th edition of Systema Naturae. 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. 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), pheasant, or prairie chicken, all of which are properly applied to other birds. Other nicknames for ruffed grouse include drummer or thunder-chicken.
The ruffed grouse has 13... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Voyageurs National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Wood Buffalo National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 11 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 13 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 15 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 17 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 19 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbian Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
No species of the same family or order lives in Elk Island National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Ruffed Grouse sighting in Elk Island National Park on a given day, based on 234 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 59th most-seen of the 161 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and November
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Ruffed Grouse in Elk Island National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July, the lowest month.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ruffed Grouse sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Ruffed Grouse sightings, Elk Island National Park ranks 3rd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Riding Mountain National Park (Canada, about 20%) and Voyageurs National Park (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ruffed Grouse is recorded against all the birds logged in Elk Island National Park (234 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
