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The Spruce Grouse is a dark chicken-like bird measuring around 40 cm in length. Males are grey-brown, with a red comb over the eye, a black throat and chest patch, and white-spotted sides. They have dark, fan-shaped tails with white tips. Females are browner, and barred underneath. Found in mature black spruce bogs, the Spruce Grouse spends the entire year in the area, and are rarely found south of the Algonquin Highlands.
Although they are very common, the Spruce Grouse is often hard to spot. Usually quiet, males occasionally give a very low-pitched “krrrk, krrrk, krrk, krrk”, while females produce low clucking sounds. The Spruce Grouse is extraordinarily tame and can be approached to a close distance without even noticing it as it sits still, feeding. For this reason it is also called a “Fool Hen”. Its principal diet consists of the needles and buds from evergreens. Young birds also consume large amounts of insects.
During mating season in April, the male Spruce Grouse engages in spectacular mating displays, noisily flying to and from trees and strutting in the snow. The repeated fanning of their tails sets off their beautiful contrasting plumage and bold red eyebrows. Nests are made in a hollow lined with grass and leaves, covered on the ground by young spruce branches. Females lay 8 to 11 pale yellowy eggs, plain or brown-spotted.
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SPRUCE GROUSE
Dendragapus canadensis
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