From Opus
Alternative name: Willow Grouse
Subspecies
scoticusPhoto by
IanFLangdon Common, Teesdale,
England.
- Lagopus lagopus
Includes: Red Grouse
[edit] Identification
Summer male - chestnut brown head and neck, white belly splashed with brown, black tail feathers and red eyebrows.
Winter male - entirely white, black eyes, bill and outer tail and red eyebrow. The feet of the bird are heavily feathered and act much like snow shoes.
Summer female - mottled brown (less reddish than the male) with some white on the belly.
Winter female - identical to the winter male.
Scoticus does not have a white winter plumage.
[edit] Distribution
North America, British Isles, Northern Europe and Northern Asia.
[edit] Taxonomy
[edit] Subspecies
There are 19 subspecies[1]:
- L. l. scotica: Red Grouse British Isles
- L. l. variegata: Coastal Norway (islands off Trondheim Fjord)
- L. l. lagopus: Scandinavia and northern Russia
- L. l. rossica: Baltic countries to central Russia
- L. l. birulai: New Siberian Islands
- L. l. koreni: Siberia to Kamchatka Peninsula
- L. l. kamtschatkensis: Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands
- L. l. maior: Steppes of south-western Siberia and northern Kazakstan
- L. l. brevirostris: Altai Mountains and Sayan Mountains
- L. l. kozlowae: Western Mongolia (Tanmu-Ola, Khangai and Kentei Mountains)
- L. l. sserebrowsky: Eastern Siberia (Lake Baikal to Sea of Okhotsk and Sikhote Alin Mountains)
- L. l. okadai: Sakhalin Island
- L. l. muriei: Eastern Aleutian Islands and Kodiak Islands
- L. l. alexandrae: Alaskan Peninsula to north-western British Columbia
- L. l. alascensis: Alaska
- L. l. leucoptera: Arctic islands of northern Canada and adjacent mainland to southern Baffin Island
- L. l. alba: Tundra of northern Yukon and central British Columbia to Gulf of St. Lawrence
- L. l. ungavus: Northern Quebec and northern Labrador
- L. l. alleni: Newfoundland
Subspecies scoticus by some considered full species, Red Grouse, ranging in U.K. and Ireland.
[edit] Habitat
Tundra, thickets with alder and willow trees, open forests and shrub meadows high in the mountains where the temperature is colder.
[edit] Behaviour
The diet includes leaves and shoots of plants, especially willow and birch; also berries, seeds and insects.
[edit] Breeding
The nest is a hollowed out area on the ground lined with feathers and grass, sheltered by rocks or logs. The female incubates the 7-10 eggs for about 21 days while the male guards the area. The only Grouse with male parental care; males have been known to attack Grizzly Bears.
[edit] References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
[edit] External Links
This link searches for videos titled Red Grouse
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