Grouse

Quick Take

• Grouse survived an extinction event that wiped out most birds, though their secret had nothing to do with flying.
• Male grouse put on an elaborate dawn performance to win mates, with one species breaking an unusual rule that every other grouse follows.
• Grouse grow feathers somewhere most birds don't, and this unusual adaptation is what lets them thrive where others freeze.
• A government decision in 2019 put millions of one grouse species on a path toward extinction, a outcome that scientists had already seen coming.

Grouse are medium-sized, stocky birds that live in the Northern Hemisphere. Their feathers closely resemble their habitat. This plumage provides them with camouflage and helps them survive. Grouse are closely related to chickens, turkeys, and pheasants. About eight million of these upland game birds are hunted each year for food or sport in their grassy and forested habitat. 

Top Grouse Facts

• Grouse are birds with feathers on their nostrils, legs, and feet.
• The female hen weighs about half as much as the male cock.
• About eight million grouse are killed in legal hunts each year.

Evolution

As Galliformes — stout, terrestrial birds often hunted as game or raised for their eggs and meat — grouse are related to turkeys, quail, pheasants, hens, and peafowl. They also form part of the clade Galloanserae, and thus share a common ancestor with waterfowl, or Anseriformes, making them the relatives of ducks, geese, and swans. Experts assert that the earliest Galloanserae were already present and waddling about during the Cretaceous period, approximately 66 to 145 million years ago. Some experts extend that period to the Mesozoic (between 66 and 252 million years ago).

Like their semi-aquatic relatives, they were able to survive the cataclysm that brought the Mesozoic Period to an end by taking refuge in the water and burrows. (The arboreal Enantiornithes were not so lucky and became extinct.)

The earliest ancestor of the Phasianidae, the Galliforme subgroup that grouses, partridges, and pheasants belong to, appeared during the Oligocene 30 million years ago. 

Classification and Scientific Name

Grouse are part of the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae. There are about 10 species of grouse in the United States and Canada. These include the blue grouse, spruce grouse, ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, and sage grouse. Also included are the greater and lesser prairie chickens, willow ptarmigan, rock ptarmigan, and white-tailed ptarmigan. 

Types

Some of the most popular grouse species include:

• Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus): These sturdy avians are capable of reaching 1.65 pounds in weight and 20 inches in length. They have the widest distribution of any game bird in North America and can be found from the Appalachian Mountains to Canada.
• Red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica): This species can be found in Great Britain and can be recognized by its reddish-brown plumage. It lays pale brown eggs covered in speckles that are white and dark brown.
• Black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix): This species can be found in Great Britain. It also lives in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. Males are capable of growing to around 49 to 58 cm (19 to 23 inches) in length and weighing between 1,000 and 1,400 grams (2.2 and 3.1 pounds).
• Hazel grouse (Tetrastes bonasia): Rather small, this grouse can be recognized by its delicately patterned plumage. It typically grows to 35 to 39 cm (14 to 15 inches) in length and has a range that covers Central and Western Europe, extending as far as Japan.
• Spruce grouse (Canachites canadensis): This species can be found in Idaho, Wyoming, and Alaska. It is also found in Canada. It is capable of growing to 17 inches and weighing 23 ounces.

Appearance and Behavior

Grouse are plump birds that primarily thrive on the ground, where they nest in tall grasses and other ground cover. They can glide in the air for short distances when alarmed and to get away from predators. Their brown, gray, and red feathers protect the birds from the weather and disguise them in their surroundings. Feathers grow over their nostrils, legs, and toes to help them stay warm and travel over snow. The birds also have thick necks, long legs, and short, hooked beaks.

Most grouse grow only to as many as 30 centimeters in height. But the wood grouse of Europe and Asia can grow as large as 100 centimeters. The biggest North American grouse is the sage grouse, with males often growing up to 75 centimeters. This is smaller than geese and about the same size as a chicken. Males are usually twice as large as females in adulthood.

Forest grouse live mostly alone, except when with their chicks. A hen’s collection of eggs or group of chicks is called a clutch. Prairie grouse are more social and tolerate the presence of other grouse in their habitat. In fall and winter, arctic and tundra-dwelling grouse form flocks of up to 100 birds. Most males mate with multiple females, except for the willow grouse, which takes only one mate at a time.

Habitat

One or more types of grouse live in most types of habitat in North America. In the United States, they can be found everywhere from the subarctic regions of Alaska to the prairies of Texas. Grouse live in tundra, heathlands, grasslands, temperate forest, and boreal forest. Some species of grouse also live in Europe and Asia. This bird family is also referred to as upland gamebirds, as they do not dwell in the watery habitats of wetland game birds, such as ducks and geese.

Depending on where they live, grouse usually either nest in tall grasses or on the floor of forests. Grouse living in snowy regions dive and burrow under the snow to live. Their body heat helps them create a nicely packed, igloo-like shelter that stays warmer than the outside air.

Male grouse typically maintain a territory of between 10 and 50 acres. They do not want other males around. Female grouse roam approximately 100 acres. Females do not mind other grouse on the same land.

Grouse are mostly non-migratory. This means they live in one habitat year-round. However, the ptarmigan, or snow grouse, migrates from its warm-season Arctic habitat to lower elevations or northwestern states during winter.

Grouse are widely hunted for their meat. In North America and Europe, it is a common practice for hunting groups to farm grouse by giving the birds land to thrive. These semi-protected habitats provide space for hunters to track and “flush out” individual mature birds during a hunt. 

Diet

Grouse are omnivores. They eat mostly vegetation but sometimes feed on insects, spiders, worms, lizards, snakes, eggs, snails, or small rodents. Their preferred foods are grasses, fruits, berries, nuts, shoots, flowers, and seeds foraged from the forest floor or other habitat grounds. They also love winter grapes, wintergreen, apples, and clover.

Some species of grouse enjoy eating evergreen tree needles. Many forests give them an endless supply of these needles that other creatures ignore. The sage grouse only eats sagebrush in winter and shelters beneath it. In warm months, sage is a major part of their diet, too.

Grouse purposefully eat sand or other grit at times. This helps them digest some of the rough plants they eat. 

Predators & Threats

Grouse thrive in harsh winters where many other birds do not. They also have plump, meaty bodies that make a great meal for humans and animals. This makes the birds attractive to many four-legged predators. These include foxes, wolves, wildcats, and lynx. Large birds of prey also eat grouse, and snakes eat their eggs.

Humans hunt about eight million grouse each year in America alone. Luckily, many of these hunts take place on lands where farmers hatch grouse to add more to the population. In the wild, grouse have large clutches, meaning many eggs and chicks are hatched by each mother. This helps keep hunters from causing the birds to go extinct.

Global warming and habitat loss are the biggest threats to grouse. Global warming causes temperature changes that affect these birds. Early spring weather, extreme heat, and heavy rain can kill hatchlings and entire populations. Early spring disrupts the plant cycle, causing their food supply to run out prematurely.

Habitat loss happens when people build cities where forests, prairies, or grasslands once existed. This pushes the birds out of their natural lands and to less suitable places where they cannot thrive. Farming and forest fires also take away their habitat.

Scientists are working on ways to help grouse keep their habitat. One of the most effective ways to help them is through preserving forests and regrowing trees. 

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

Male grouse of all species, except one, mate with multiple females at once. It is only the willow grouse that has one mate per season. To compete for their mates, male grouse perform courtship displays at dawn and dusk each spring. They dance and strut, fluff their feathers, and drum their wings on fallen logs. Male sage grouse and prairie chickens inflate a brightly colored neck air sac to show off for females, too. Sometimes the males fight to compete for females.

Females build their nests in the ground. They find a natural dip in the ground’s surface sheltered by groundcover like grasses or sagebrush. They line this nest with plant materials, such as leaves and twigs.

About a week after mating, the female grouse starts laying eggs that look like smaller chicken eggs. She lays only one every day or two. She can replace lost or broken eggs with new ones. When she is done, she has a clutch of between five and 12 eggs. If all goes well, each of these hatches 21 to 28 days later.

Chicks leave the nest right after hatching. The mother grouse stands guard over her brood. The mother protects the young from predators and other threats. She takes them to good foraging spots, where the chicks must find their own plant or insect meals. Male willow grouse help their mates protect their babies. But for other species, the males do not take care of the young.

By the time the chicks are two weeks old, they have wings and can fly in little bursts. But they stay in the nest and around their mother until they reach adult size and weight in autumn. That is at about 12 weeks of age.

Grouse reach sexual maturity and can first mate when they are about one year old. Most North American grouse live for seven or eight years in the wild. Some live as long as 11 years. But cold weather and disease can kill as many as three in every four young grouse each year. 

Population

From season to season and year to year, the number of grouse living in the world varies widely. Harsh winters, unfavorable seasons, or disease can cause the population to decrease by thousands. After each hunting season, there are millions fewer birds than in the months before. However, grouse populations recover well. They have many eggs in their clutch and can nest a second time during mating season if the first set of eggs is lost.

In North America, there are about 15 grouse per square mile of land. The sage grouse is most vulnerable to habitat loss in America. There are only between 289,000 and 550,000 sage grouse in the U.S. as of 2025. While it is not listed as endangered, the sage grouse is a “Vulnerable” species. In 2019, part of sage grouse habitat in the western United States was opened to oil drilling. This action threatens the habitat of millions of sage grouse, and many scientists expect the drilling to cause the sage grouse to go extinct.