My first experience with ruffed grouse was when I “tagged along” with my dad and his hunting buddy Wayne. They were familiar with a few abandoned logging roads that coursed through some thick green briar thickets. The briar’s berries were just too tempting to the grouse’s palates.

In an hour or so of hunting we saw many grouse. It was exciting to hear a grouse “explode” as it quickly flushed from the tangles or from the leafy forest floor. Well that was in the mid to late ’60s.

Today, hunters, and now birders, struggle to find places in the Times News region to even find one grouse. I’m not sure on my nature/birding treks when I flushed the last one. My birding buddies Dave, Rich and I now hope that we can add one (what was once a sure thing) to our annual Carbon County lists. I try to get to my father’s old hunting spots early on April or May mornings hoping to hear a male grouse drumming.

Male grouse, like all male birds, need to find and/or attract mates. Most male birds are brightly colored and use their songs to bring them success. The male grouse, even though colored a bit differently from the female, uses “drumming.”

The drumming to which I am referring occurs when the male climbs onto a fallen log, rock or stump and begins a slow pumping of his wings. This increases rapidly and then ebbs in about 10 to 15 seconds. The drumming sound comes from the rapid movement of the wings, not from hitting its breast.

Grouse don’t have a very large territory, and the male will often use the same drumming spot day after day. Over the past few years, I’ve heard little or no drumming.

Our beautiful state bird, weighing about 1½ pounds, is in trouble. After widespread timbering in the late 1800s, our forests regrew into dense stands of tree saplings and thick underbrush. This was great habitat for grouse. But now, when many of these forests’ trees are 100-120 years old, there is less understory and this habitat is more conducive to wild turkeys, not grouse. BUT that is only part of their problem.

Strike two against them is West Nile virus. It is almost always fatal to the birds. A forest loving culex mosquito is the culprit transmitting the disease. This virus has only been an issue for the past 20 to 30 years. Strike three, because of our warming earth, the mosquitoes breeding now occurs earlier in spring and later into autumn. Thus, even more mosquitoes to transmit the virus.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission personnel have been doing some outstanding research and habitat restoration efforts. However, with few good habitats left for grouse, the populations become separated, and if they do survive the virus, they have a harder time finding mates. Much like the dwindling whippoorwill calling each evening, the forests are quieter in the morning without the grouse’s drumming. Hopefully they will make a comeback.

You are looking across Lake Hauto or Beltzville Dam and you see a large group of ducks swimming together (see photo). This group of ducks is referred to as a _____. A. flotilla, B. covey, C. raft, D. puddle.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Most male birds don’t begin singing until the “days lengthen” in spring, however the male Carolina wren often sings even on a sunny January morning.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.