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Black Grouse? (1 Viewer)

edrick owl

edrick owl - a real twit
Hi all

Just something which is bugging me and which I would like clearing up.
Monday we went to Castle Howard - North Yorks, and on the way back down the long drive to the exit, I am sure I saw a Black Grouse, on the grass verge, in the open, calling (?) away as we passed in the car.
Was I correct? Do these birds live so far south; I always thought they were a high altitude - wild moorland bird, so could they be seen in what is basically open farmland?
I have never seen one of these before, but I do think that they are pretty unmistakeable birds.
Any help or comments would be welcomed, as ever.
 
I have no idea of the Black Grouse's distribution in the UK, but it seems unlikely to me. In Slovenia, Black Grouse live above the tree line only. What does the question mark beside "calling" mean, did you hear the call or not? I can't really think of any Black Grouse (male) confusion species ...
 
Perhaps it was a black variety of pheasant? These are now released quite regularly on shooting estates. Black grouse can be found on farmland, but only on the fringes of moorland areas.


Here are some other threads on black pheasants (the first two with pics)

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=31699
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=47083
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=48498

PS I've just looked at the Castle Howard website and it looks very unlikely black grouse habitat.
 
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It's very, very unlikely to have been a Black Grouse; they seldom stray far from their preferred habitat and Castle Howard doesn't fit the bill. I suspect that the suggestion of a melanistic (black) Pheasant is the answer.
 
Jurij Hanžel said:
I have no idea of the Black Grouse's distribution in the UK, but it seems unlikely to me. In Slovenia, Black Grouse live above the tree line only. What does the question mark beside "calling" mean, did you hear the call or not? I can't really think of any Black Grouse (male) confusion species ...

Hi Jurij,

Agree with you and Caper that the bird in question's probably not a Blackcock, but in the UK Black Grouse can occasionally be found at sea level if the habitat is suitable. There used to be a small population on Moine Mhor - a large moss in mid-Argyll, Scotland - unfortunately I haven't seen any there for many years. Weird though, to see them flying across the moss with the sea in the background! I've also seen them feeding on oat stooks and stubble on farmland in the glen bottoms when I was a kid.

saluki
 
saluki said:
There used to be a small population on Moine Mhor - a large moss in mid-Argyll, Scotland - unfortunately I haven't seen any there for many years. Weird though, to see them flying across the moss with the sea in the background! I've also seen them feeding on oat stooks and stubble on farmland in the glen bottoms when I was a kid.

saluki


I believe they may still be there Saluki. I was speaking to a colleague yesterday who has been doing lek counts this spring in Argyll and she mentioned the Crinan area as one of the sites. Generally though I think BG numbers are very low now in Argyll.

A couple of years ago there was a project on speyside to encourage stooking of oats for farmland birds. They got black grouse and capers coming to the stooks if I remember right.
 
Capercaillie71 said:
I believe they may still be there Saluki. I was speaking to a colleague yesterday who has been doing lek counts this spring in Argyll and she mentioned the Crinan area as one of the sites. Generally though I think BG numbers are very low now in Argyll.

You might well be right Caper, they're certainly in Knapdale Forest which borders the moss to the south west at Crinan, though I haven't heard any lekking on Moine Mhor when I've been on at daybreak. There used to be a small lek on the hill behind the house I used to live in a few miles north east of the moss, one could hear them from the garden, but none have been present for the last few years. I occasionally used to see them flying high up across the glen, from one hillside to another, one could appreciate their powerfull flight when viewed like this - more reminiscant of waterfowl than a game bird I thought.

saluki
 
OK everyone, thanks for your contributions. I really do appreciate them all.

I did not hear it "call" as we were passing in the car, with the window wound up: but, it was mouth open and head reared backwards, so I presumed it must have been emmitting something. It was on an open belt of varied height grass, between the road and the trees, around 25yards away as we passed. Unfortunately I could not see if it had a long tail or otherwise to help ID it as a Pheasant, as I was doing the driving.

I will settle on a Black/Dark Pheasant. That does seem to be the most logical explanation, and one that I am more than happy to accept.

As I said earlier, I have not seen one of these before, and was not sure of their range - but, if you don't ask, you never learn!

Thanks again.
 
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