New York · UplandRuffed grouse

New York has an unusually rich, DEC-published regional dataset for ruffed grouse thanks to two coordinated citizen-science efforts: the spring Drumming Survey (which feeds the public NYS Ruffed Grouse Dashboard, showing the highest drumming rates in northern New York DEC Regions 5 and 6, near-average rates in Regions 4/7/9, and below-average rates in Regions 3/8) and the fall Cooperator Ruffed Grouse & American Woodcock Hunting Log, which quantifies the same north-south gradient by ecozone: the flush rate runs highest in the Adirondacks-Tug Hill ecozone, next-highest in the Champlain Valley ecozone, and the Northern hunting Zone as a whole consistently outperforms the Southern Zone. DEC's own Species Status Assessment separately confirms ruffed grouse have essentially vanished from Long Island (a single survey block in the most recent Atlas) and from the Hudson Valley and surrounding highlands, and specifically flags the Catskills-Delaware Hills as a region with comparatively good remaining habitat that hasn't translated into a correspondingly strong population.