Bonasa umbellus MEDIANA
Status: Extirpated.
Documentation: Specimen: HMM 1984 (pair), 1916 Dodge Co (Swenk, Notes Before 1925).
Taxonomy: Pyle (2008) listed 10 subspecies, although variation and color phases make accurate separation difficult; some authors suggest as many as 15 subspecies (Rusch et al 2020). Avibase lists 14 subspecies (https://avibase.ca/6D2B5CDA) and Gill et al (2022) thirteen.
The extirpated eastern Nebraska population (mediana), occupying the “western disjunct portion of the range” was included within the range of nominate B. u. umbellus by Pyle (2008). Rusch et al (2020) limit the range of umbellus to the northeastern US and implied eastern Nebraska birds were included in mediana, whose range was described as “E USA from EC Minnesota, S Wisconsin and SW Michigan S to C Arkansas and W Tennessee”.
We recognize mediana as having occurred in Nebraska.
Aldrich and Friedmann (1943) indicate on their range maps that the Rocky Mountain subspecies incana may have occurred on the Pine Ridge, but there are no known reports from that area (Bray et al 1986); it is, however, an uncommon resident in the Black Hills of South Dakota (Tallman et al 2002).
Records: Rusch et al (2020) noted that there were isolated or marginal populations of Ruffed Grouse on peripheral ranges in the western and midwestern US that “disappeared in the late nineteenth century, probably because of land-clearing, grazing, and market-hunting that accompanied settlement and agricultural development”. Rusch et al (2020) also stated that former ranges included “riparian woodlands of eastern North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, eastern Iowa, eastern Kansas, and Nebraska.”
Ducey (1988) summarized the little that is known about this species’ occurrence in Nebraska. Most had disappeared by the late 1880s, although it was considered a rare resident by about 1900 at Child’s Point, in present-day Fontenelle Forest, Sarpy Co (Ducey 1988). According to Bruner et al (1904), this species still occupied woodlands along the Missouri River Valley around 1900 but was by then rare. Swenk (Notes in NOU Archives) reported that “Mr. Skow knows of a dozen ruffed grouse which have been taken near Omaha in past years. Four were killed in Mill Hollow in 1895 or thereabouts and all were mounted. The last one was shot at that place by Roy Mullen and Edward Wallace about 1905.”
The specimens cited above were shot by Anthony Machianach near Nickerson, Dodge Co and apparently are the specimens examined by Aldrich and Friedmann (1943); one is a red morph the other gray, and they constitute the last known record for the state. The location of collection in the lower Elkhorn River Valley and the date of collection some years after the species was rare in prime habitat, raise some question as to the authenticity of the specimens, however.
An attempt to reintroduce this species in the Nemaha Co section of Indian Cave SP in 1968 (Cortelyou 1970) was unsuccessful, none being reported since 1973 (Johnsgard 1997). Releases were made in Kansas in the 1980s, including areas along the south side of the Missouri River in Doniphan and Atchinson Cos, but these efforts to re-establish the species have also been unsuccessful (Thompson et al. 2011). Similar releases in extreme northwest Missouri have also been unsuccessful (Missouri Department of Conservation data, Robbins 2020). It was considered possible a few birds may have persisted as late as 2000 (Scott Taylor, personal communication); an intriguing report with good details from a knowledgeable observer was of two birds flushed in southern Nemaha Co, Nebraska 12 Aug 2001. The observer was an experienced turkey hunter but had not heard grouse drumming in the area.
Abbreviations
HMM: Hastings Municipal Museum
NOU: Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union
SP: State Park
Literature Cited
Aldrich, J.W., and H. Friedmann. 1943. A revision of the Ruffed Grouse. Condor 45: 85-103.
Bray, T.E., B.K. Padelford, and W.R. Silcock. 1986. The birds of Nebraska: A critically evaluated list. Published by the authors, Bellevue, Nebraska, USA.
Bruner, L., R.H. Wolcott, and M.H. Swenk. 1904. A preliminary review of the birds of Nebraska, with synopses. Klopp and Bartlett, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
Cortelyou, R.G. 1970. Ruffed Grouse. NBR 38: 90.
Ducey, J.E. 1988. Nebraska birds, breeding status and distribution. Simmons-Boardman Books, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Johnsgard, P.A. 1997. The birds of Nebraska and adjacent plains states. Occasional Papers No. 6, Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union. Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Pyle, P. 2008. Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part II, Anatidae to Alcidae. Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, California, USA.
Robbins, M.B. 2020. The Status and Distribution of Birds in Missouri. 2nd Edition. University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Rusch, D.H., S. Destefano, M.C. Reynolds, and D. Lauten. 2020. Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rufgro.01.
Swenk, M.H. Notes before 1925. Bird notes from A.M. Brooking of Hastings, C.A. Black of Kearney, and B.J. Olson of Kearney, based chiefly on their collections, up to January 1, 1925. Typed manuscript in the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Archives, University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Swenk, M.H. 1895-1916. Notes in Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Archives, University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Tallman, D.A., Swanson, D.L., and J.S. Palmer. 2002. Birds of South Dakota. Midstates/Quality Quick Print, Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA.
Thompson, M.C., C.A. Ely, B. Gress, C. Otte, S.T. Patti, D. Seibel, and E.A. Young. 2011. Birds of Kansas. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2023. Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 17 Apr 2023