A Favorite from the Past: On the First Day of Christmas, Don’t Expect a Partridge in a Connecticut Pear Tree
Ruffed Grouse (aka partridge), photographed by Don Morgan
December 22, 2025 — A dozen years ago we took a light-hearted angle on a serious conservation problem — the long-term decline in Connecticut of Ruffed Grouse, also known colloquially as the partridge. Connecticut’s orchards are filled with pear trees but you’d have to hit the birding jackpot to find a partridge roosting in one.
They were rare in 2013 in the state. They’ve become much rarer since, because much of the young forest-shrub habitat the species needs has become much rarer.
Field observers for the recently-released draft version of the Connecticut Bird Atlas confirmed that Ruffed Grouse were breeding in only three atlas blocks, all in the northwestern part of the state. Compare that to the 1994 Atlas, when they were deemed “ubiquitous” in Litchfield County.
The 2025 draft Atlas says the population has fallen so low that “Ruffed Grouse is considered a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Connecticut and seems likely to disappear from the state without a concerted effort to turn around the decline. Creation of young forest is clearly central to any recovery of the species, but it is unclear that this will be sufficient as the reasons for the decline are not well understood.”
Most of the species accounts for the Connecticut Bird Atlas are still being written.
The good news is that the Ruffed Grouse range extends across the forests of northern United States and Canada, and they are still common throughout.
Our serious but light-hearted story from 2013 follows. — Tom Andersen, Communications Director
Ruffed Grouse are now a species of greatest conservation need in Connecticut.
December 23, 2013 — Connecticut residents planning to give their true love a partridge in a pear tree on the first day of Christmas this year are likely to be disappointed.
Partridges have become so rare in Connecticut over the last two decades that it might be easier to find two French hens or three Turtle Doves than a partridge – the beautiful and thrilling game bird more commonly known here as the Ruffed Grouse.
The reason for the scarcity can be found in the woods themselves.
The partridge or Ruffed Grouse is a bird of the young forest, of thickets and young trees that first grow when a meadow or farm is abandoned. Connecticut’s forests are now too old for Ruffed Grouse and the dozen or so other birds that require young woods for nesting.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection estimates that while 60 percent of the state is covered by forest, only five percent of that is the early-stage forest that grouse require.
The situation is made worse by deer, which in some places have devoured much of the forest understory, and by suburban development, which has divided important habitats into unsustainable fragments, and by other human behaviors that have allowed predators like raccoons to thrive.
Although the partridge’s range extends far beyond Connecticut and the bird is doing well across North America, its statewide decline is an indication that our ecosystems are not as diverse as they could be. Once nearly entirely forested, then nearly entirely pastures in colonial times, the state has reverted back to forestland. Other birds that also prefer thickets and young forests, such as Eastern Towhee, Chestnut-sided Warbler and Blue-winged Warbler, have also become relatively rare in Connecticut.
One of the best gauges of how far Ruffed Grouse numbers have declined is the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. An analysis by the Connecticut Ornithological Association shows that during the 1970s, Connecticut Christmas Bird Counts averaged 160 grouse per year. That rose to 176 during the 1980s, with a high of 250 in 1982-83.
But by the 1997-98 count the army of birders who fanned out across Connecticut saw 43 Ruffed Grouse. And in 2009-10 Christmas Bird Count, the number of Ruffed Grouse seen statewide was just one (in Litchfield County).
In light of this, Connecticut Audubon Society has made a major effort to manage its sanctuaries to encourage a greater diversity of birds.
“We’re actively managing several of our sanctuaries with a goal of bringing back a whole suite of birds that nest only in young forest,” said Milan Bull, Connecticut Audubon’s senior director of science and conservation.
Ruffed Grouse nest, for example, on Connecticut Audubon Society’s 700-acre Croft preserve in Goshen [note: the species hasn’t been reported on eBird from the Croft Preserve since 2021], helped by a conservation management plan that serves as a science-based blueprint for maintaining and improving the preserve’s habitat. Now, more than 10 percent of the preserve is being managed to maintain the kind of early-successional habitat that Ruffed Grouse require.
