Songs of the Taiga Aboriginals

V. V. Vlasov

Every Russian remembers a famous poem by Yesenin: “The scarlet of dawn is woven on the lake surface, wood grouse cry in the pine forest, uttering their mating-call…” Songs of these reserved taiga inhabitants have become a symbol of spring love celebration for many poets: a renowned singers’ caf in Moscow is called A Wood Grouse’s Nest; country feasts cannot do without songs about wood grouse, and hikers’ or hunters’ camps, without a popular song by A. Rosenbaum: “On the mating place, wood grouse hit each other’s chest till it bleeds. They get so excited that one fears for their life…”

Why are wood grouse so popular? First, the spring courting of these huge relict dense forest residents really looks impressive. Second, it is a wood grouse (not an eagle) that can be called a truly Russian bird. There was a time when the wood grouse’s natural habitat extended as far as all the northern part of Eurasia. Today, European countries have few of these birds left: they can be found only in zoological gardens. Only in Russia, there is still a considerable amount of wood grouse. They are not like inconstant migrant birdies, for they patiently wait for the winter hardships in their homeland to be over, hiding under snow and feeding on pine needles. Thanks to their reserved mode of life in the remotest depth of the forest, they got their Russian name (“gloukhar” is derived from the adjective which means both “deaf” and “remote”).

Special literature gives scarce information about them: the largest of grouse, they make their nests on the ground; there are usually eight eggs in a laying; wood grouse suffer from predators such as eagles, eagle owls, martens, etc.; male birds weigh from 4 to 5 kg, hens weigh half this weight.

Wood grouse fall into a spring mood already in March when migrant birds just start preparing for a long journey to the north. At this time male grouse begin walking on the thin frozen snow-crust by the future meeting place — the display ground, which remains on the same spot for many years. Usually, it is a remote moss bog surrounded with pines, on whose branches wood grouse enjoy sitting. Everybody has seen a picture, competing for popularity with Shishkin’s famous “Morning in the Pine Forest”, of a wood grouse sitting on a branch with its head thrown back, which is a typical pose for singing.

More information on these and other subjects you can find in the printed version of our journal.