DRUMMING AND GOBBLING IN SPRING WOODS

     At dawn, occasionally in April over the years, I've sat quietly in southeastern Pennsylvania woods to listen for the wild drumming of male ruffed grouse and the loud gobbling of tom wild turkeys.  And I've heard both of them!  Those are the ways these elegant, woodland gamebirds advertise their presence to females of their kinds for mating.  

     At first light on April mornings, each male grouse hops onto "his" drumming log lying dead on a dead-leaf-covered, forest floor, and spotted with his droppings.  At first, he struts back and forth majestically on that, often-moss-covered, log. But soon he stands upright on the log, with his tail fanned out, head crest erect, and the black ruff on his neck puffed out.  Then he vigorously flaps his wings in front of himself, without those wings touching, to create several sudden collisions of trapped air that make low-pitched, thudding sounds that can be heard through the woods.  He quickly accelerates the beating of his wings to a rapid whir, sounding a bit like an engine starting.  After about eight seconds of wing-beating, he suddenly stops, to rest and catch his breath after such a great effort.  He then continues his performance again and again for several minutes, until hunger or a female grouse ready to mate interrupts him.

     Ruffed grouse are about the size of small chickens, to whom they are related.  And each grouse is brown and darker-streaked, which camouflages them on dead-leaf carpets on woodland floors.  

     Two or three big, stately Tom turkeys appear really large when strutting before a group of hen turkeys.  Those elegant, promenading males together sport their large, fanned and upright tails, while their wings droop to the ground and their beautiful, iridescent feathers are puffed out and shiny.  Red and blue, bare skin on their heads and throats add to their magnificent displays.  And the Toms stretch out their colorful necks to gobble loudly.  Sometimes those male turkeys fight over rights to mate with the hens.  All that to excite female turkeys into mating with those handsome Toms.    

     After mating, each female grouse and turkey lays an egg a day in her leafy cradle on a dead-leaf- covered, successional woods floor.  Each hen begins incubating her eggs when the last one of about twelve is laid so that all her fluffy, precocious youngsters hatch the same day and are able to follow their mother away from their nursery to consume invertebrates, seeds and other edibles on forest floors.  

     Chicks of both woodland species of chicken relatives are camouflaged on dead-leaf, woodland floors.  And a distress call from each mother makes her young hide and "freeze" until that mother utters the all-clear note.  Gray foxes, copperhead snakes and Cooper's hawks are some of the predators that catch some young grouse and turkeys.  Still, I have been lucky enough to see a few broods of each species, simply by being in the right place at the right time. 

     The beautiful and stately ruffed grouse and wild turkeys will survive in southeastern Pennsylvania, as long as successional woods do.  They are both game species, but I think their greater value is in their wonderful beauties and intrigues in their natural habitats.    


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