The grouse bird differs from the rest of the chicken birds by its rather dense plumage of the nostrils, metatarsus and fingers. The only exceptions are hazel grouses in which the foot is not completely feathered. In all grouse, except for white partridges, in winter, horny fringes appear on the sides of the fingers, which double the size of the paw. All this helps them to survive in the cold snowy forest. The black grouse endures winter quite easily. They arrange thermal shelters in the snow cover, and use needles, catkins, buds and shoots as food. Horny fringes help them quickly dig into the chamber and facilitate movement in the winter forest; the dense plumage of the paws serves as a warm bedding, and the nostril condenses moisture. The temperature in such a nest should be below 0 ° C, so if it rises a little higher, then the black grouse makes a ventilation hole in the ceiling.
Only capercaillie can afford it +2 °С, then the walls become icy. The sharp edges of the beak cover are called ramfoteki, they allow you to cut and tear off needles, shoots and buds. The very thick lining of the stomach, as well as the large number of pebbles that the bird swallows, and the very strong stomach muscle work together like real mills.millstone.
Food
In summer and spring, the main food is young greens and flowers, as well as shoots of herbs and shrubs, and with the onset of autumn, the black grouse switches to berry food. They practically do not eat insects, but the further south, the more they are used, especially by babies. The wings are quite short, slightly rounded, they allow birds to take off vertically, but they are practically not adapted for long flights. The tail is usually of moderate length, slightly rounded.
Features
Black grouse is a ground bird. It spends the main part of its life on the ground or on the snow, but in autumn it happens to spend the night in the trees. They move quite easily and can run very fast. They feel quite confident on trees, even if the branches are thin. Distributed in Eurasia and North America, except for its southwest and southeast. They nest even on the coast of Greenland. In the south down to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Japan and the Pyrenees. Most of them are forest birds, some species live in bushes, and some are able to live even in the arctic tundra.
And what mating games the grouse arranges! Photos of them can often be found in various magazines. Among them, there are both monogamous and polygamous (everything is like with people!), The latter are characterized by group talk. During it, males flock to special places where they perform complex rituals with special postures and sounds. Nests are built directly on the ground, as a rule, these are small depressions, slightly lined with hay and plumage.
Conclusion
All grouse birds are very valuable examples of sport hunting, but at the moment many species are listed in the Red Book. The idea of them as ancient birds is erroneous, this is one of the youngest families of chickens, although it is already quite numerous. There are already about 19 species.
