Upland birds
Black grouse
Lyrurus tetrix
- Group
- Upland birds
- Size class
- Small (under 10 kg)
- Family
- Phasianidae
Range
- Europe
- Asia
Habitat
- Boreal forest
- Wetland
Range
Countries it is found in
34 countries
- Albania
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- China
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Mongolia
- Netherlands
- North Korea
- Norway
Range from:Wikipedia country bird lists — read 2026-08-05
Chapter 01
Overview
The black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) — blackgame, or blackcock and greyhen for the sexes — is a large bird of the grouse tribe, sedentary across the Palearctic. It breeds on moorland and steppe, often near woodland, and winters perched in dense forest feeding almost exclusively on conifer needles. It is one of two species in the genus Lyrurus, the other being the Caucasian grouse. Six subspecies are recognised, differing slightly in size and colour, with birds getting larger further east: L. t. tetrix across Scandinavia, L. t. britannicus in Scotland, Wales and northern England, and others through Siberia, Mongolia and China.
Chapter 02
Identification
Males run about 60 cm long and weigh 1,100–1,250 g, occasionally up to 2,100 g; females are about 45 cm and 750–1,100 g. The cock is predominantly black with deep blue tones on neck and back, set against a white wingbar and white undertail coverts, with bare red skin above each eye. The hen is much drabber and cryptically coloured to disappear into the ground she nests on. The tail is the giveaway. The cock's is lyre-shaped, and he fans it in display — the shape that gives the genus its name.
Chapter 03
Behaviour
The courtship is the best-recorded thing about the species. Every dawn in spring the cocks compete on open ground called a lek, fanning the lyre-shaped tail and inflating the neck to signal territory and vigour. The song is a long dove-like bubbling coo. Hens visiting the lek settle on the healthiest male, though not every hen attends every lek.
Field data
Tracks
A photograph of real sign left by Black grouse. Prints vary with gait, ground and how long they have been there — treat this as one example, not a template.
Track photo:Павлик ЛисицынCC BY
On the table
Meat & cooking
Table grade 5 of 55/5
- Sold as meat in a legal market
- Has a named traditional dish
- Published way to handle and cook it
- Eaten in more than one country
- No known health advisory
Traditional preparations
- Salmis
- The classic French treatment of game birds — roasted briefly, then jointed and finished in a sauce built from the carcass. Salmis — Wikipedia
- Game pie
- Legs and trim, the parts that dry out on a fast roast, go into raised and braised game pies. Game pie — Wikipedia
Sources
Sources: Black grouse — Wikipedia — read 2026-08-05
Cross-reference
Related species
Its closest relatives in the compendium, nearest kinship first.
Upland birds
Hazel grouse
Tetrastes bonasia
Same subfamily (Tetraoninae)
Upland birds
Western capercaillie
Tetrao urogallus
Same subfamily (Tetraoninae)
Upland birds
Red grouse
Lagopus lagopus scotica
Same subfamily (Tetraoninae)
Upland birds
Willow ptarmigan
Lagopus lagopus
Same subfamily (Tetraoninae)
Upland birds
Rock ptarmigan
Lagopus muta
Same subfamily (Tetraoninae)
Upland birds
Dusky grouse
Dendragapus obscurus
Same subfamily (Tetraoninae)