Alaska Native Knowledge Network Resources for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing.

Ruffed Grouse : Ruffed Grouse Elciayuli Elciayuli aren't found everywhere in the Y-K Delta, but if you live near a spruce forest, chances are you'll see one strutting slowly along on the ground somewhere in the neighborhood. In the spring time you're more than likely to hear a male off in the distance trying to entice a female onto its territory with a drumming sound unlike anything you've ever experienced before. I can remember the first time I heard this sound back in the early 1960's along Birch Creek. I thought it was an ailing outboard motor, the way it would putt putt along fine at first, then slowly die. Time after time it would do this, and it had me baffled for a long time. I was just a teenager and new to Alaska, so I guess I had a good excuse, eh? I've found two Yupik names for these fascinating fowl: Elciayuli, which means "one who is really good at making a burping (drumming) sound;" and Egelruciayuli, meaning something like "one who is really good at moving fast," undoubtedly referring to its fast take- off from ground level when approached too close. The concept of burping is interesting, because the Ruffed grouse does not accomplish its drumming by burping. The other bird that takes the same name in Yupik, the Rock ptarmigan, does make a very loud burp-like call, loud enough, in fact, to scare a person out of his wits if he suddenly surprises one. The drumming noise is actually produced by the male as he perches crosswise on a log, tail bracing him as he leans slightly backward, and brings his cupped wings forward and upward in quick beats. The wing strokes are slow at first, making a measured thumping, but they increase in speed until the sound becomes a rapid whir. Suddenly the beating ends and the noise stops. The drumming sound itself results from the cupped wings striking against, believe it or not, nothing more than the air. Ruffed grouse have been known to drum at any time of the year, but the really intensive drumming takes place in early spring to announce territory, attract females, and to repel other males. The name scientists give the Ruffed grouse is Bonasaumbellus. Bonasa refers to the good taste of the meat when roasted, and umbellus refers to the umbrella-like ruffs around its neck that are raised when the bird is excited. Males raise them to special prominence in spring when a female happens by. They also raise their crests, fan their rusty black-tipped tails, and flaunt their bright orange eye combs in an attempt to draw females near enough to their territorial logs to copulate with them. And I do mean "them," since the males are promiscuous and will mate with more than one female. After breeding, the hen scrapes out a slight hollow in the forest floor, usually near a tree, stump or log, and lines it with leaves or spruce needles, twigs and its own molted feathers. She then lays up to 14 buff-colored, often brown-spotted eggs, which she incubates by herself for more than three weeks while her mate stands sentinel not far away. Shortly after hatching, the chicks all walk away from their nest. Within a week after that they can already fly to a perch a foot above the ground. Two weeks later they can fly well enough to roost with their mom in the trees. During this early period they eat spiders, caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, ants, wasps and other insects. Later they augment their diet with wild berries, plant seeds, flower blossoms and buds and leaves of aspen, birch, cottonwood, willow, alder and spruce trees. Yes, omnivorous is the key word. In fact, adults have been known to eat even small frogs. The young hang around their mothers for a long time, and when approached by a possible predator, such as the writer and his black dog, the mom does her tried and true "crippled bird act' until she is sure all of her squealing chicks have fled the scene. Then she takes to the trees herself and watches us until we leave the area. The Ruffed grouse is hunted in more American states and Canadian provinces than any other grouse. And more are shot and eaten by hunters than any other grouse. In Alaska, the ptarmigan is more popular as a game bird because it's easier to hunt, but for taste no one will dispute the Ruffed grouse is tops. Back to names. I've not run across a bird with more unusual names. To wit: birch partridge, carpenter bird, moor fowl, mountain pheasant, partridge, pine hen, ruffed heathcock, shoulder-knot grouse, tippet, white-flesher, wood grouse, wood hen, woodpile quarker, woods pheasant, drumming grouse, and drumming pheasant. » List of Yupik Birds

The University of Alaska Fairbanks is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, educational institution and provider is a part of the University of Alaska system. Learn more about UA's notice of nondiscriminitation.