Lyrurus tetrix
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large bird in the grouse tribe. It is a sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in moorland and steppe habitat when breeding, often near wooded areas. They will spend the winter perched in dense forests, feeding almost exclusively on the needles of conifers. The black grouse is one of two species of grouse in the genus Lyrurus, the other being the lesser-known Caucasian grouse.
The female is greyish-brown and has a cackling or warbling call. She takes all responsibility for nesting and caring for the chicks, as typical with most galliforms. The black grouse's genome was sequenced in 2014. The black grouse was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tetrao tetrix. Both Tetrao and tetrix come from Ancient Greek words referring to some form of game bird. The black grouse is now placed in the genus Lyrurus that was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William Swainson.
The male and female are sometimes referred to by their folk... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 3 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novosibirsk Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | wildlife park Feldkirch | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 3 | Plock Zoo | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 4 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 5 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 6 | hipopotamiarnia i akwarium morskie warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Black Grouse sighting in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, based on 24 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 46th most-seen of the 140 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Black Grouse in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November and December, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eurasian Black Grouse sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Eurasian Black Grouse sightings, Cairngorms National Park has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 10%) and Vanoise National Park (France, about 10%).
Same family: Phasianidae
The closest relatives of the Eurasian Black Grouse that you can see in Cairngorms National Park (family Phasianidae, Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies) are Ring-necked Pheasant (about 30%), Willow Grouse (about 10%) and Western Capercaillie (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eurasian Black Grouse is recorded against all the birds logged in Cairngorms National Park (24 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
