Spring is lekking season for the black grouse. In the early morning, the male birds, like this fancy fella in Finland, gather on lek sites, often a patch of open ground, to put on a show for the ladies in the audience. The guys flash their white tail feathers, utter cooing and hissing noises, flutter-jump, and pick fights with each other—all to demonstrate their dominance to the watching hens. (Hens are smaller and have gray-brown feathers.) When a hen picks out the male she likes, the two fly off to mate and then go their separate ways. Love connections are brief in the black grouse world.
I m here! Take a look at me!
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
International Museum Day
-
North Cascades National Park at 50
-
National Park Week begins
-
Happy Mother’s Day
-
Dolomites
-
Goodbye, 2020!
-
The Great Glen
-
Feelin groovy on Record Store Day
-
Mountain goats
-
Fly me to the moon
-
Frozen fun in the Canadian cold
-
Red squirrel in Cairngorms National Park, Scotland
-
Happy holidays!
-
Autumn in Piedmont
-
A dramatic view of Sicily
-
The Aomori Nebuta Festival parade, Japan
-
Iceland awaits the Yule Lads
-
Milford Sound/Piopiotahi rainforest in New Zealand
-
Into the woods
-
Mackerel forming a bait ball to avoid predators