Finally, all bird species of the Western Palearctis, photographed until December 2016, are online in the Archive. I just finished uploading with photos of one of my favourite groups – the Grouses. All birds of this group are elusive and difficult to watch – so every encounter is an adventure.
Black Grouse (Lyrurus tetrix ssp. tetrix) adult female well hiding behind a trunk. Ural Mountains, Russia, 16.06.2016
I spent hours and hours, trying to find them, watch them, get close to them without disturbing and finally photograph them.
Some of them live in dense thicket like the Hazel Grouse and it is easily reproducible that you hardly see them.
Hazel Grouse (Bonasa bonasia ssp. volgensis), motionless hiding in a tree. Bialowieza, Poland, adult male
But others are just in the open like the Rock Ptarmigan. Nevertheless it took me a lot of time to discover them during winter time.