Details
Tetrastes bonasia
A small, quiet grouse of northern forests, moving through dense undergrowth and often perching in trees.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
Lives in mixed conifer-broadleaf forest, damp wooded valleys, young woods, and shrubby mountain forest with abundant cover.
Fine gray-brown barring covers the body. Males show a black throat patch and small crest, with a rounded tail banded black near the tip.
Pairs or single birds give high whistling calls. When alarmed, they fly a short distance and hide in trees.
Buds, leaves, catkins, berries, seeds, and insects are eaten, with woody plants important in colder seasons.
Ground nests are made in forest-floor hollows. Females incubate, and chicks walk through the forest soon after hatching.
Large clearcuts and simplified undergrowth reduce habitat quality; continuous damp forest supports local populations.
