This weekend some of our students have been on a black grouse lekking, and despite bad weather it was a huge success! The excursion was arranged as a practical part of the course "Wildlife Ecology", and there was both Norwegians and exchange students participating. The aim of this excursion was to show the students a lekking mating system and to get some first-hand experience with some of Scandinavia’s fascinating wildlife.
"A unique opportunity to see wild animals at their natural environment at such close distance apart from them" - Julia Verdejo Nieto
The black grouse males meet up on this bog every morning between 5 am and 9 am from March until early May. They display on this spot and fight each other to show to potential females that they are the best looking and strongest males around. The females only visit occasionally for short periods to check out the males. The two mornings we were out, there was a minimum of 12 males on the lek and a female came to visit on both morning for ca. 15 min before leaving again. She seems to not have her mind made up yet.