Black Grouse

What the Black Grouse sounds like

Recorded by Jochem verweij · Song · Kalmar, Kalmar County, Sweden · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

When to see the Black Grouse

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 10 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is April, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Black Grouse

The map shades 27 countries with regular records, and 3 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Montenegro.

About the Black Grouse

The black grouse, also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large bird in the grouse tribe. It is a sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in moorland and steppe habitat when breeding, often near wooded areas. They will spend the winter perched in dense forests, feeding almost exclusively on the needles of conifers. The black grouse is one of two species of grouse in the genus Lyrurus, the other being the lesser-known Caucasian grouse.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Caucasian GrouseLyrurus mlokosiewicziAs with many gamebirds, the cock (male) is larger than the hen (female), measuring 50–55 cm compared to her length of 37–42 cm.