Black Grouse, Orre,

This bird has different names in English and Swedish, nothing unusual there. What is unusual is that there even seems to be disagreement on the Latin name with the English language Wikipedia giving Tetrao tetrix, while the Swedish Wikipedia gives Lyrurus tetrix. Apparently there is disagreement about whether there is one species with variations, or two closely related species.  I'm not a great one for Latin anyway so I'll stick to the common names...
This black grouse looked very out of its normal element when I first saw it, high in a birch tree, pecking away at something, seeds I presume. These birds do look slightly comical, balancing on wildly bending twigs as they walk around high above the ground. However, as I watched I realised it probably wasn't out of its element at all. It walked around in the tree tops very confidently, moving from twig to twig scoffing something all the way. It's just that I'm used to these birds being on the ground, perhaps an unfair preconception.
It wandered the birch tops I could see from my window for about twenty minutes. I looked away, then back, and it was gone.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.