Hazel grouse

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Hazel grouse
Hazel cock (Tetrastes bonasia)

Hazel cock ( Tetrastes bonasia )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Chicken birds (Galliformes)
Family : Pheasants (Phasianidae)
Subfamily : Grouse (Tetraoninae)
Genre : Hazel Grouse ( Tetrastes )
Type : Hazel grouse
Scientific name
Tetrastes bonasia
( Linnaeus , 1758)

The hazel grouse ( Tetrastes bonasia , Syn. : Bonasa bonasia ) is like the capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus ) and the black grouse ( Lyrurus tetrix ) to the grouse (Tetraoninae), a group of species in the family of pheasant-like (Phasianidae). It is a small shy forest bird that feels at home in structurally rich deciduous and mixed forests. The distribution area extends over the northern part of Eurasia to the Japanese island of Hokkaidō . Several subspecies are distinguished in this large distribution area. In the area of Central Europe several subspecies occur.

The main area of ​​distribution of the hazel grouse is in Russia. In Central Europe the hazel grouse is comparatively rare and no longer occurs in large parts of its former range. Since the hazel grouse is a pronounced resident bird , there is no natural repopulation of regions, even if these now offer suitable habitats again. There are therefore some costly resettlement programs to make hazel grouse at home again in parts of Central Europe.

Appearance

With a length of 35–36 cm, the hazel grouse is about the size of a partridge ( Perdix perdix ). The plumage is gray to reddish brown on the top and whitish-black patterned on the underside. The black and white pattern increases towards the throat and changes there into a red-brown color. The tail is relatively long and slightly rounded. At the end he wears a wider, black cross band, which is lined with white on the outer edge.

When excited, both sexes can set up the head feathers in a characteristic "hell". In contrast to the hen, the rooster has a black throat spot when it is brooding.

Newly hatched chicks are colored pale yellow on the underside of the body. They are pale russet on the front breast and warm russet on the upper side of the body. The crown, the neck and the back are brown. The head sides are yellowish with dark brown, fine stripes.

Locomotion

As with all chicken birds, the flight is quick and noisy. After flying up, the hazel grouse first flies straight ahead for a certain distance and is then able to turn abruptly when gliding at a sufficiently high speed. A startled hazel grouse usually flies no further than about 100 meters.

Startled hazel grouses usually take cover in conifers at a height of between five and seven meters. They then usually stay near the trunk and, apart from turning their heads slightly, remain largely immobile until they no longer feel alarmed. Hazel grouse running on the ground stretch their necks forward and make a small hump.

distribution

Distribution area

The hazel grouse lives in the forest areas of the European and Asian taiga , but also penetrates into the deciduous forest belts of Eurasia . The northern limit of the distribution area is determined by the northern limit of closed coniferous forests. It is widespread up to the southern border of the forest zone and also occurs locally in the forest steppe.

There are only a few large deposits left in Central Europe . The main distribution area of ​​the hazel grouse is in the Alps . The second largest Central European population with 2000 to 4000 pairs lives in the area of ​​the Bavarian Forest and Bohemian Forest National Parks as well as adjacent forest areas. But the hazel grouse is also a regular breeding bird in the Ardennes , Ösling , Lorraine , the Vosges , the French Jura, the Beskids , the Tatra Mountains and the Forest Carpathians .

Other natural occurrences in Central Europe are very small. In regions where the hazel grouse was still at home a few decades ago, extensive resettlement projects have been underway for the last 20 years.

habitat

Representation of a pair of hazel grouse

The hazel grouse needs forests rich in undergrowth with a diverse composition of species and with a rich horizontal and vertical division. Good hazel grouse biotopes have deciduous trees, a not too dense layer of herbs, tall perennials and dwarf shrubs, which offer berries as food, and thickets. Unsuitable habitats are thinned or densely closed age class stands.

Due to the large area of ​​distribution and their different climatic conditions, the hazel grouse colonizes different forest forms. So it can be found in the south of the Urals in pure oak forests with a rich undergrowth. In the Siberian mountains, on the other hand, it inhabits dense pine - spruce forests . In the entire distribution area, the hazel grouse is most likely to be found in wooded mountain river valleys, where spruce , birch and alder dominate. The hazel grouse is only found in pure pine forests in the south of the distribution area, provided that these have a dense undergrowth of ferns . In the south of Korea and on Hokkaidō it is also found in bamboo grassland.

The hazel grouse is a real resident bird, where there is only small-scale change of location depending on coverage and the availability of food. In one study, 90% of the recovered ringed birds were less than 500 meters from the original ringing location. The youth dispersion is a maximum of seven kilometers. The colonization of regions that again offer suitable living opportunities of this kind does not take place at all or only very slowly. There are therefore a number of attempts at settlement, including in the Harz and the Franconian Forest in Thuringia .

In regions such as the southern taiga, where hazel grouse find habitats that meet their needs to a particularly high degree, the population density can be up to 20 pairs per square kilometer. More typical, however, is a population density of ten to 15 pairs per square kilometer. In less suitable habitats, between 0.5 and 1.5 breeding pairs live per square kilometer.

food

Female hazel grouse

The diet of the hazel grouse is predominantly plant-based, with the main components changing over the course of the year. In spring and summer it mainly eats green parts, flowers and seeds of perennials and shrubs, using a large number of food plants. In late summer and autumn it mainly consumes berries. In contrast, it eats the catkins, buds and terminal shoots of deciduous trees and bushes in late autumn and winter as well as in early spring. In most of the range, the most important food crops in winter are birch and alder.

Animal nutrition plays an important role in the diet of the chicks. At first they mainly eat spiders, beetle larvae, grasshoppers, caterpillars and ants. From around the third week of life they also start to eat smaller leaves and seeds. Only in early autumn is there no longer any difference to the diet of the adult birds.

Reproduction

The hazel grouse is monogamous and territorial during the breeding season. In autumn the courtship takes place, in which couples form who can stay together for the winter. However, the actual mating only occurs during the spring season . The breeding season begins in the southern regions of the range in the first week of March and two weeks later in the northern range. The high point of partner advertising usually coincides with the end of the snowmelt.

Hazel Grouse eggs

The hazel grouse is a ground breeder. The nest is a shallow hollow, excavated by the female, which is poorly laid out with fresh or dry parts of the plant. Nests have a diameter of about 20 centimeters, the nesting trough is four to five centimeters deep. Their nests are very well hidden, e.g. B. under stones or rocks, at the foot of a tree or under fallen trees. So they are well protected from predators, but also from rain and snow. There, 5–10 eggs are laid within 10–14 days. The eggs are spindle-shaped with a smooth and shiny surface. The yellowish-beige eggs mostly have a drawing of fine reddish-brown spots, dots and some larger blobs. The laying distance depends on the age of the female and her physical fitness. The eggs weigh on average 17.2 grams. The brood begins as soon as the clutch is complete. Only the female breeds, but the male stays near the nest until the young hatch.

The chicks hatch after an incubation period of 21 to 27 days. The breeding period is influenced by the respective weather conditions, because this determines how intensively the female breeds. The breeding season is shorter, the more intensively the female breeds, especially in the first few days. All chicks in a clutch hatch within about eight hours. When all the chicks have hatched, the female leads the brood away from the nest. In the first few days you will stay in small, sunlit forest clearings. During the first days of life, the chicks are briefly fudged by the female every five to six minutes . As they flee the nest , the young chicks are already active shortly after hatching and explore their immediate surroundings. Soon they move neatly and agile in the area and look for food for insects. They can fly fluttering after just a few days of life. From the second week of life onwards, their agile and fast locomotion changes into slow, deliberate striding. Now they have almost completely changed their menu from animal to vegetable food. From the third week of life, young birds like adult birds stand up to rest.

During the summer, the hen takes her chicks to good feeding places. In the beginning, these are the edges of forests and meadows with relatively low ground vegetation. Later, the family finds their food in blueberry stocks , raspberry bushes and the like. In autumn, when the family breaks up, rowan berries, kittens and buds are on the menu. In addition, caterpillars are scratched from the dead wood of pine trees . At around three months old, the young birds are as big and heavy as the adults.

wintering

Hazel cock

During the winter months, the birds in snowy regions spend most of the day in snow chambers. In Leningrad Oblast , hazel grouse leave their snow chambers at an ambient temperature of −10 ° C to −20 ° C either only once during the day for a period of 1.5 to four hours or for two hours in the morning and 30 to 40 minutes just before Sunrise. They spend the rest of the day either in a snow chamber or in sunny weather in a snow hollow. They rest for 18 to 21 hours of the day. In warmer winter weather they spend more time searching for food, but between such phases they always rest for 40 to 70 minutes. In the more northerly regions of the distribution area, they leave the snow chambers for 30 to 40 minutes in the morning and evening at an ambient temperature of −40 ° C. There are indications that the birds remain in their snow chamber for up to two days without food in even less favorable weather conditions.

Natural causes of death

Hazel grouse can prey on all sufficiently large predators that are found in their range. Typical predators include hawk , sparrowhawk , red fox , wolverine , pine marten , sable and ermine . However, the marten-like are considered essential predators .

Adverse weather conditions have a major impact on the hazel grouse population. During the hatching phase and in the first days of life of the chicks, prolonged cold spells with rain can lead to a complete loss of the brood. Winter with low temperatures can also have an unfavorable effect if there is not a sufficiently thick blanket of snow under which hazel grouse can take shelter. Winters with frequently changing frosts and thaws also have a negative effect.

Duration

The European population is 2.5 to 3.1 million breeding pairs. The main distribution center is Russia, where between 1.9 and 2.2 million breeding pairs occur, Finland, where there are between 300,000 and 500,000 breeding pairs, and Sweden with 80,000 to 120,000 breeding pairs. In Central Europe there are currently 53,000 to 83,000 breeding pairs. The most important Central European populations are in Poland, Slovakia and in the Alps of Austria and Switzerland. In the Red List of Germany's breeding birds from 2015, the species is listed in Category 2 as critically endangered.

Systematics

genus

The grouse is occasionally together with the black breast grouse the collar chicken in the genus Bonasus provided. The two Altwelt species of hazel grouse and black-breasted hazel grouse show morphological similarities with the collar grouse. However, they lack the conspicuous courtship behavior and, unlike the collar grouse, they are monogamous. For this reason, they are now usually placed in their own genus of hazel grouse ( Tetrastes ).

Subspecies

Hazel Grouse, Bavarian Forest

Within the large distribution area, several subspecies have developed, which differ mainly in their plumage:

  • Tetrastes bonasia bonasia (Linnaeus, 1758): The nominate form occurs in Scandinavia, Estonia and the north-west of the European part of Russia.
  • Tetrastes bonasia rhenana (Kleinschmidt, 1917): Southeast Belgium, Luxembourg and the southwestern part of Germany (including the Black Forest)
  • Tetrastes bonasia rupestris (Brehn, 1831): From the south of the Black Forest to the Czech Republic
  • Tetrastes bonasia styriaca (Jordans & Schiebel, 1944): Alpine region at altitudes between 600 and 1900 meters and in the Carpathians between 600 and 2950 meters.
  • Tetrastes bonasia schiebeli (Kleinschmidt, 1944): Mountain areas of the Balkan Peninsula including western Bulgaria and northern Greece. They mainly populate mountain forests between 1200 and 1700 meters above sea level.
  • Tetrastes bonasia volgensis (Buturlin, 1916): Upper Volga Valley
  • Tetrastes bonasia septentrionalis (Seebohm, 1884): The Siberian hazel grouse is the subspecies with the largest range. It stretches from the Pechora and Urals to the Lena . In the Altai Mountains , hazel grouse have an altitude distribution of up to 1,600 meters.
  • Tetrastes bonasia kolymensis (Buturlin, 1916): Eastern slopes of the Verkhoyansk Mountains to the Kolyma River
  • Tetrastes bonasia yamashinai (Momiyama, 1928): Sakhalin Peninsula
  • Tetrastes bonasia amurensis (Riley, 1916): Amur area
  • Tetrastes bonasia vicinitas (Riley, 1915): Hokkaidō

Hazel Grouse and Human

The hazel grouse has long been one of the most hunted bird species in Eurasia. Due to the tasty quality of the meat, hazel grouse in Russia were not only sold in local markets, but also exported. By the end of the 19th century, professional hunters shot no less than three million hazel grouse annually. This intensive hunting is considered to be the reason that the hazel grouse disappeared in parts of its Russian range. In regions where there was still a residual population and the hunt stopped, the populations recovered within two to three years.

The hazel grouse was hunted with snares and the birds were attracted with the help of a whistle. The hazel grouse was not hunted with rifles until the 20th century. In Russia, professional hazel grouse hunting declined around the middle of the 20th century and was almost completely discontinued in the second half of the 20th century. Today it is only done by hobby hunters, but due to their small size, most hunters do not want to hunt these game birds . In the more remote regions of Russia, Mongolia and China, the hazel grouse is still hunted with the help of snares, and it is often children who practice this form of hunting. In most regions where hunting is still allowed, the hunting season is limited to a few weeks in autumn.

literature

  • Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds. Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-647-2 .
  • Heiner-Heiner Bergmann; Siegfried Klaus, Franz Müller, Wolfgang Scherzinger , Jon E. Swenson, Jochen Wiesner: The hazel grouse . Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Volume 77, Westarp Wissenschaften, Magdeburg 1996, ISBN 3-89432-499-6
  • Steve Madge , Phil McGowan, and Guy M. Kirwan : Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse. A Guide to the Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, Grouse, Guineafowl, Buttonquails and Sandgrouse of the world. Christopher Helm, London 2002, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0 .
  • Rudolf Suchant, A. Glockmann (Red.): Capercaillie and Hazel Grouse in a Central European Cultural Landscape. Starting points, perspectives and conflicts in the implementation of protection concepts. Contributions to the international conference in Oberprechtal, Baden-Württemberg, from October 9th to 12th, 1997 . Reports Freiburg Forest Research, Volume 2. Published by the Forest Science Faculty of the University of Freiburg and the Forest Research and Research Institute Baden-Württemberg. FVA, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998
  • RL Potapov, VE Fling (ed.): Handbook of the birds of the Soviet Union. Volume 4: Galliformes, Gruiformes. Aula Verlag, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-89104-417-8
  • Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 .

Web links

Commons : Hazel Grouse  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Collin Harrison and Peter Castell: Field Guide Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings , HarperCollins Publisher, revised edition from 2002, ISBN 0007130392 , p. 101
  2. ↑ RL Potapov, VE Fling (ed.): Handbook of the birds of the Soviet Union. Volume 4: Galliformes, Gruiformes. Aula Verlag, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-89104-417-8 , p. 104
  3. ↑ RL Potapov, VE Fling (ed.): Handbook of the birds of the Soviet Union. Volume 4: Galliformes, Gruiformes. Aula Verlag, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-89104-417-8 , p. 108
  4. ↑ Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds , Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-647-2 , p. 165
  5. ^ Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 86.
  6. ^ A b Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 87.
  7. ↑ Bauer et al., P. 163
  8. ↑ RL Potapov, VE Fling (ed.): Handbook of the birds of the Soviet Union. Volume 4: Galliformes, Gruiformes. Aula Verlag, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-89104-417-8 , p. 115
  9. ^ Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 92.
  10. ^ Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 93.
  11. ^ A b Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 94.
  12. ^ A b Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 89.
  13. ↑ a b R. L. Potapov, VE Fling (ed.): Handbook of the birds of the Soviet Union . Volume 4: Galliformes, Gruiformes. Aula Verlag, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-89104-417-8 , p. 117.
  14. ↑ Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds , Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-647-2 , p. 163
  15. ↑ Christoph Grüneberg, Hans-Günther Bauer, Heiko Haupt, Ommo Hüppop, Torsten Ryslavy, Peter Südbeck: Red List of Germany's Breeding Birds , 5 version . In: German Council for Bird Protection (Hrsg.): Reports on bird protection . tape 52 , November 30, 2015.
  16. ↑ Steve Madge, Phil McGowan and Guy M. Kirwan: Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse - A Guide to the Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, Grouse, Guineafowl, Buttonquails and Sandgrouse of the world , Christopher Helm, London 2002, ISBN 0-7136- 3966-0 , p. 374
  17. ^ Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 84
  18. ^ A b Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 85
  19. ^ A b Roald Potapov and Richard Sale: Grouse of the World . New Holland Publishers, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78009-250-8 , p. 95