Bonasa umbellus

What is this bird?

Sue and I were biking on Lower Rail-Trail (pronounced like flower) about 45 minutes SW of State College. We stopped at a bench for a break, when suddenly this bird that looked something like a small long chicken - about 6' high and 12" long - appeared and started running around our feet. It had many of the features of a chicken (e.g., feet, beak) and there were farms nearby from which it could have escaped, but the body shape was not that of the typical domesticated chicken and the coloration suggested it was wild. Maybe it was some type of Pennsylvania woodland prairie chicken? But the bird ran right up to us, not away from us as you would expect a wild bird to do.

When we got home, I searched the web. It definitely was not a domestic chicken, even an exotic breed. It did look a lot like a prairie chicken. Stumped, I emailed a photo to a retired Pennsylvania park superintendent who is an avid birder. It was a male ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), which is a game bird and the Pennsylvania state bird. As for why he approached us, he wrote:

About this time of year they start to get a little goofy. Some think it is a territorial behavior defense. Others that it is a younger bird looking for territory to defend and not sure how to do it yet. Maybe it just wants a friend! Here is an article about similar behavior. https://www.wvnews.com/ruffed-grouse-known-to-be-bold-around-humans/article_99b8c0fb-3ebf-5f32-854b-8ed2ea1a2a36.html