Black grouse leks in the Alps and Jura
Black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix); rock ptarmigan, ring ouzel, citril finch. Aletsch (Riederalp), Gantrisch, Engadin, Jura ridges, Switzerland.
Best time: 15 Apr – 15 May (April to May). Where: Pro Natura Zentrum Aletsch, Riederalp (Villa Cassel), Naturpark Gantrisch (Gurnigel – Selibüel), Engadin (Val Roseg / Bernina passes) (Switzerland). Time of day: In place in full dark: display from about 04:30 (an hour before sunrise in April) to 07:30, peaking at first light.
- Partly on your own
- Free
- Telescope recommended
- Sound 4/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 15 Apr – 15 May. Mid April to mid May, from before sunrise for 2–3 hours
Active from 1 Apr to 31 May (April to May) in a typical year.
Time of day
In place in full dark: display from about 04:30 (an hour before sunrise in April) to 07:30, peaking at first light; a shorter evening lek in the hour before sunset.
- Dawn lek: 1 h before sunrise → 150 min after sunrise
- Evening lek: 1 h before sunset → sunset
What will you hear?
Bubbling 'rookooing' rolling across a snow-patched alpine meadow from several cocks, sneezing 'tchu-shwee' hisses, wing-flutter jumps; ring ouzel and water pipit around them; cowbells not yet arrived.
Binoculars?
Telescope recommended. Sit 150 m+ off in cover at first light; a scope makes the display, binoculars are the minimum.
Where to go
- Pro Natura Zentrum Aletsch, Riederalp (Villa Cassel) — Runs a black-grouse weekend with a guided dawn to a lek in the Aletsch forest reserve. Map
- Naturpark Gantrisch (Gurnigel – Selibüel) — Leks on the pasture edges; the park asks walkers to keep off the lek areas at dawn in spring. Map
- Engadin (Val Roseg / Bernina passes) — Leks near the treeline; ask local guides and respect Wildruhezonen. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Many leks lie in Wildruhezonen with seasonal bans — check wildruhezonen.ch before planning. Gantrisch: public trails from the Gurnigel pass car park; keep off the lek areas at dawn as the park asks. Engadin: ask local guides. The cleanest option is the Pro Natura Aletsch guided dawn (Riederalp).
Cost: Free from public trails; Pro Natura Aletsch guided wildlife excursions CHF 150–250 per group (2026).
Free or no-guide alternative: Gantrisch: free from the public trails above the Gurnigel pass at first light — listen from the trail edge outside the marked lek and Wildruhezonen.
Who runs access
- Pro Natura Zentrum Aletsch – Wildbeobachtung excursions (NGO) — Guided dawn wildlife excursions in the Aletsch forest reserve; black grouse in season.
Field-recording notes
The Vogelwarte has shown that lekking numbers are lower in ski areas and that a single early skier can shut a lek down — the whole ethic is arrive in the dark, sit 150 m+ off in cover, leave after the cocks. Many leks are inside Wildruhezonen with seasonal bans (Dec–April/June), so the map at wildruhezonen.ch is the legal check. Snow is firm at dawn in April: get in place before it softens (noisy). The cleanest option is the Pro Natura Aletsch weekend. No playback; the birds are protected and declining.
Sources
- Vogelwarte Sempach – Birkhuhn
- Vogelwarte Sempach – effects of disturbance
- Pro Natura Aletsch – Wildbeobachtung
Similar spectacles
Capercaillie and black grouse leks in the eastern forestsCapercaillie's clicking, cork-pop and grinding song from pine bog edges, wing-beats of cocks flying in, black grouse bubbling on the open bogs; cranes, whooper swans and Tengmalm's owl in the same nights.
Black grouse leksBubbling 'rookooing' from displaying males, hissing 'tchu-wee' sneezes and flutter jumps; curlew and snipe often in the same soundscape.
Capercaillie and black grouse — the ones you do not visitThe capercaillie's accelerating clicks, 'cork-pop' and grinding — a very quiet song (audible to ~200 m) that is almost never recorded in Germany without a permit. Black grouse bubbling in the Alps.
Black grouse leks in the AlpsBubbling 'rookooing' and hissing from males on snow patches at the treeline, ring ouzels, water pipits, and meltwater.
Black grouse leks above the treelineBubbling 'rookooing' and explosive hisses from several cocks on a snow-patched clearing, wing-flutter jumps, ring ouzel and ptarmigan croaks; cowbells arrive later in the season.
Black grouse leks above the treelineBubbling 'rookooing' and explosive hissing from several cocks at once on a snow-patched clearing, ring ouzel and water pipit around them; capercaillie 'cork-pop' song from the forest edge in the same weeks.
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