Drumming Grouse

The last few years during my spring trips to Yellowstone, I've been finding a male Ruffed grouse staking out a fallen log for a few weeks.  He uses this as his annual platform for calling to female grouse.  You usually hear a Ruffed grouse drumming long before you see it.  The first time I heard it, I thought a Harley was driving by: a deep, deep thumping sound that rapidly accelerates.  It's often so low that many people have trouble hearing the sound at first.  The sound is actually caused by the rapid flapping of his wings (apparently this creates a vacuum in the air, similar to thunder created from a lightning strike).

This is not the same as the Ruffed grouse display, which is also rather dramatic, as he fans his tail and extended a black collar of feathers around his neck once a female is in sight.  This is one cool bird!

Though I would have loved to photograph him straight on during this ritual, this spot is in fairly dense forest, and this was the clearest sight line.  Due to dark conditions, it would be very difficult to freeze the beating wings without flash.  However, I think this is a better representation of the drumming action anyway.

Canon 1DX
Canon 600mm
ISO 2000
1/400th
f/4

Max