We had an overnight field trip with a biology professor from the University of Agder to build a birdhide and hopefully see some interesting bird courtship behavior. We took a day to hike into a large forested area about 45 minutes from campus. The land actually belonged to a dairy farmer but, as Norwegian law allows, anyone can go on any persons land. It is, of course, expected and respectfu
l to inform the landowner that you will be on their land and camping. The biology professor knew that this area had many interesting birds flocking there every year, particularly the black grouse. The black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), is a distinctive gamebird found in northern Europe.
Black grouse have a very distinctive courtship ritual. At dawn in the spring, the males strut around and display special feathers while making a highly distinctive mating call. It is a really unique and funny sound. The males gather to inflate their neck feathers, raise their tails, and make their funny “kooing/hissing” sound. If there are multiple males around, they will challenge each other, bow their heads and charge one another. They will often jump up and lunge their feet at the opponent and try to push the other one over. It was never excessively violent from my observations, but Svein mentioned that if there had been a female present they would have acted even more radically. The “winner” of these displays and show of aggression will ultimately win the attention and, therefore offspring of the female.
Seeing the birds in the early morning was quite a happy ordeal. The professor also taught us what plants we can eat in the wild, how to build a observation shelter, and a lots of nature’s knowledge.
