Spruce Grouse

Male

The fir chicken ( Falcipennis canadensis) is a North American bird of the family of chicken -like pheasant.

Features

The fir chicken reaches a body length from 38 to 45 centimeters. The wingspan is 50 to 60 centimeters. The weight varies 450-650 grams.

The male is mostly gray - brown feathered with a black chest with white dashes on the side, a black throat. The black tail has auburn spikes in Nominatsform. During the breeding season the male swells a red comb above the eye. The male who lives in the northern Rocky Mountains subspecies F. c. franklinii missing the brown tail ends; but it has this white tips of the upper tail-coverts.

The females of both subspecies brown mottled with dark and white bars on the bottom.

Occurrence

The distribution area includes Alaska, large parts of Canada and parts of New England, Michigan, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Basically, the fir chicken is a boreal Nearctic and Art Fir chicken inhabits coniferous forests.

Behavior

The fir chicken lives singly or in small family groups. The fir chicken is not shy: It flies on only when a man has approached to 6 to 45 meters. Since it can even catch occasionally, it is "hen Fool" also (Eng. " fool hen " ) called. The diet consists mainly of needles and buds of conifers. In the warm season supplement also leaves, flowers and berries, such as blueberries and crowberry, the food. Young birds also eat a larger amount of insects.

Reproduction

In the mating season the males fluffed his feathers on, flaps its wings and sometimes briefly, to attract females. The nest of fir chicken is padded with grass floor tray, which is hidden under the branches of a young fir tree. The nest consists of eight to eleven beige eggs, which may also have brown spots. The chicks hatch after about three weeks and fledge ten days.