Black Grouse Calls Query. (1 Viewer)

[Stonefaction]

A claim of a very 'out of area' Angus (east Scotland) coastal sighting of a female Black Grouse, making the 'bubbling' call, caught my attention this week. I had a look at relevant Birds of the Western Palearctic volume to see if females ever make this call and checked a few pages of recordings (with 'females' specified) on Xeno-Canto and drew a blank on both. Does anyone know if the females ever do make this call, or is it solely the males (and do they make it away from lek sites)?

 

[JWN Andrewes]

A couple of nuggets you may find interesting, maybe even relevant.

Some years ago Alan Davies, then warden of RSPB Conwy, told me of a bizarre record of a male Black Grouse wandering about in amongst Gulls roosting on a sand bank in the Conwy Estuary. They really can turn up in some odd places!

Back in 2005 (or thereabouts) on a spring trip to Speyside we were treated to the bizarre sight of a female Capercaillie, perched half way up the Osprey nest tree, tail vertical & fanned, head pointing skywards, looking and moving for all the world like a displaying male. We were way too far away to be able to hear if she was vocalising like a male, but it certainly demonstrates that female (looking) Grouse can at least behave like a lekking male. (The spectacle was made all the more remarkable by the repeated attempts by a dive-bombing Osprey to dislodge the Caper from its perch. It just ducked its head whenever necessary and then calmly carried on.)

Don't know if that's of any help, but your query prompted the recollection, so there, make of it what you will!

 

[Stonefaction]

Know of a Red Grouse turning up on the Isle Of May, quite some distance from nearest likely sources (and at least 5 or 6 miles from land), and a very recent sighting of Ptarmigan at much lower level and some distance away from usual upland areas as a result of bad weather, so I do know resident Scottish grouse can, and sometimes do turn up in unexpected areas (think there was also a coastal sighting of Red Grouse in Yorkshire(?) too).

If the females do indeed make the 'bubbling call' then it would be additional supporting evidence for the observer. BWP while comprehensive, is also a bit 'long in the tooth' these days and it may be that more is known about the vocalisations of female Black Grouse now (though trying to find whether that is the case via search engines isn't particularly easy....and I do not trust information from ChatGPT and other 'AI' bots).