Rod photographed this Ruffed Grouse in the the Museum’s Hall of North American Forests.
Each of the Museum’s habitat dioramas depicts a scene from a real place, cast in the light of a particular time of day. These re-creations are based on meticulous observations of scientists in the field and the on-site sketches of the artists who accompanied them. This particular diorama depicts Sunset Hill on the eastern shore of Sunapee Lake in New Hampshire in early October.
The ruffed grouse is the PA state bird. Once, when I was probably in second or third grade, a ruffed grouse flew into the hood of our car. We pulled over and after my dad checked out the situation, he made my sister and I get out of the car and look at it “so we could see the state bird. It’s not every day you can see the state bird, girls!”
