Eurasian Black Grouse

About the Eurasian Black Grouse

The black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), 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.

The female is greyish-brown and has a cackling or warbling call. She takes all responsibility for nesting and caring for the chicks, as typical with most galliforms. The black grouse's genome was sequenced in 2014. The black grouse was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tetrao tetrix. Both Tetrao and tetrix come from Ancient Greek words referring to some form of game bird. The black grouse is now placed in the genus Lyrurus that was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William Swainson.

The male and female are sometimes referred to by their folk... Wikipedia →