Black grouse

The Black Grouse, also known as the Mountain Pheasant, is a robust, dimorphic bird, with obvious differences between the sexes. It has a svelte build, with short, obtuse or rounded wings and a prominent third remigant. The tail, composed of eighteen feathers, is one of the most distinctive features. The male's tail is deeply forked, with the subtail coverts extending beyond the rectrices, giving the tail a lyre-like shape, with the outer ones turning outward, resembling horns or crescents. In the female, the tail is less deeply forked and slightly notched. The beak is strong and of medium length, while the feet are feathered not only to the toes but also on the interdigital membrane.
The male measures about 60 cm in length, with a wingspan of more than 90 cm and a tail measuring close to 18 cm. The wings measure about 30 cm. The female is smaller, about 15 cm shorter than the male, with a smaller wingspan of about 7 cm.
The male's plumage is generally black, with a beautiful steel-blue head, neck and lower back, decorated with white bands when the wings are gathered. The undertail feathers are off-white. The eye is brown, with dark-black pupils, the beak is black, and the toes are brownish. The area above the eye and the periocular space are bright red. The female has more discrete plumage, mixing shades of rusty-yellow and rusty-brown, with black spots and transverse lists, similar to the grouse, but with less intense colors.
The black grouse has a generally more sociable behavior than the grouse. The two sexes tend to live together, especially during the fall and winter, although there may be some exceptions. During winter, movements are frequent, and when the snow is high, the bird is often forced to dig long tunnels to search for food, as it becomes difficult to find in the wild during this season.