Female black grouse: description and photo. Tetter and grouse

In the very early spring, only the snow begins to descend, at the edges of the black grouse activity begins to manifest. Of course, on white snow, the males of this bird stand out with a bright spot - with bright mirror plumage and red eyebrows. Samochki are not so beautiful, but much wiser and more inventive than a male individual.

Female black grouse as called?

The children can answer this question in an intricate way: the grouse, the Teterivikha. Of course, you can call it simply - a black grouse. What is the name of this bird-like bird? It's right to call her a tetter. In ancient times, she was called a little aunt, because of her external resemblance to a pockmarked hen. The fishers and hunters call it kopylukha.

In general, it is easiest to call it simply a tetter. So we will write later in the article.

Black grouse: beautiful forest man

This is a special bird. He is remarkable and luxurious, dressed in a chic fur coat of feathers.

It is easy to recognize by the dark black plumage with a mirror shine. On the neck of the bird there may be a green or purple overflow. The abdomen is brown. The tips of the tail feathers are gracefully curved. On the wings there are white feather stitches, above the eyes - red eyebrows.

Black grouse is a real decoration of the forest expanses, but it is being hunted. The meat of this bird is valued, and not a beautiful appearance. Every year, fishers destroy whole flocks of these creatures. Experienced hunters, at least, do not touch the breeze, realizing that they can have a nest with chicks. Poachers do not think about the defenseless brood hen, they only care about the fact of being caught.

Appearance of Teterka

And what does a black grouse look like? Unlike males, they are not so remarkable. Teterka is similar to an ordinary chicken, only it is much larger.

Its color is brown or beige, the feathers clearly show black and light longitudinal stripes of feathers. It is as if striped, mottled.

Also, the tetter can be confused with the female wood grouse. They are similar in size and plumage. Teterka has a white "mirror" on the wings, the tail-tail is also white.

Chicks, both females and males, are the same externally. They are bright, colorful. In their plumage there are brown, black, red, white and brown feathers.

Female black grouse can hide more professionally from hunters due to its ordinary plumage. It is almost invisible in the thick grass, where it will certainly escape, escaping death.

Weddings of black grouses

With the onset of early spring black grouse begin to fill with songs - to lure and lure females to create a family. He gropes and snorts for a few minutes, then stops for a short time and starts to sing again.

Female black grouse cries, teasing grooms and kindling in them more and more excitement. It's the thetter who chooses his black grouse.

The males swish and wait until the Teterks separate them, making each their choice. Females do not hurry to run to the grooms, they till the last time. During this time, the most persistent, and therefore the strongest representatives of the avian flock are identified.

When the choice is made, the black grouse is divided into pairs and diverges in its territories. They stay together for a while, before Teterka takes the eggs. At this time, the male also visits other tetteroks, who were left without a pair. Female black grouse has nothing against such campaigns, because these are polygamous birds.

When the eggs are in the nest, the black grouse leaves this area. Males once again get into one flock before the next season.

Teterka hides the mantle alone, protecting future chicks from the encroachments of predators and other lovers of eating bird eggs.

Hatching and hatching of eggs

As already mentioned, males do not take part in the further fate of their offspring. Female black grouse itself builds a nest, trying to erect it in dense grass, thickets of nettle or juniper.

Usually the thetar lays 6-8 eggs, which is taken care of throughout the month. After 25-30 days hatchlings hatch, but they are not like the usual chicks. Within a few hours they leave the nest and follow their mother everywhere.

During the first ten days of life of the chicks, the female black grouse does not lose sight of them. At this time she herself is subject to the greatest danger.

Nestlings do not know how to fly, they can not feel danger and protect themselves. And the danger lies in wait for them at every turn. They are threatened not only by hunters, but also by wild animals.

If Mama Teterka felt a danger, she immediately makes a loud scream, similar to the cackling, and the roar of the wounded individual at the same time. The chicks know what it means: run away, hide in the grass and sit quietly!

The very same female black grouse pretends to be wounded and leads a dangerous representative of the outside world away from their children.

Once again, when you will be hunting for black grouses and see wounded Aunt, think about it, maybe it just takes you away from your nest. Do not touch this bird, because without it the nestlings can perish.

Teterok and the grouse live indivisibly, even when the chicks begin to fly. In ten days they begin to jump, flutter, and a month later they fully rise on the wing.

Female black grouse leads its children to get acquainted with the whole flock only closer to wintering.

Wintering and feeding black grouse

Wintering birds are mostly on the ground, too. During the day they can sit on the branches of trees, but with the onset of twilight they will dive into the snowdrifts, digging deeper into the holes. If a snowstorm takes place, then in these "dens" they can live a few days.

Chickens of black grouse feed on insects, and after growing up, they switch to a vegetarian menu. Their dinners include a variety of herbs and roots, soft tops of branches of bushes.

In the summer and autumn, when berries appear in the forest, black grouse is also tanned by them. Also in the food are petals and flowers of clover, near the sown fields, you can get cereals: wheat, millet.

The winter diet is not so diverse, it is necessary to experience frosts on poor nutrition and fat reserves since the summer. In the winter forest, they eat young shoots of trees and bushes, earrings and buds of birch, remaining on the trees with berries, pine needles, willow buds and alders, young cones of coniferous trees.