| Ornitolog27. 10. 2016 10:16:48 |
It's not a ptarmigan, but a female capercaillie.
In our mountains the following grouse species occur (listed by size from largest to smallest): capercaillie, black grouse, hazel grouse, rock partridge, ptarmigan. These are the official names, but I've heard countless local/old variants.
Perhaps slightly off-topic, but still attaching a pictorial ID key for these species, all very rare. If you spot them sometime, let me know 
A sentence or two per species: the capercaillie is really a huge bird, especially males, which are 1/3 larger than females. They live in old coniferous forests where they have peace. Sometimes one encounters an aggressive (mad) bird that charges fearlessly at a human (don't provoke them, better avoid). This is a kind of pathological state closely linked to population decline. Before WW2 it was very numerous on Pohorje (even on lower elevations), now it has become extremely rare there due to human impacts (skiing, hiking, mushrooming, foraging, MOTOCROSSERS!!!) (only a few individuals on the whole Pohorje!)
The black grouse is most often observed in the forest-shrub transition zone, generally higher than the capercaillie. Males are also larger than females here. Males have a distinctive black-white pattern on the wings, a scissor-shaped twisted tail, and a red "comb" over the eyes. The female black grouse is brown and streaked on the chest, while the female capercaillie is orange without streaks. In spring, and also in autumn, you can hear their characteristic grumbling.
The hazel grouse is the trickiest of all, meaning it leads a secretive life in dense cover of low spruces, so it's very hard to see. It is found in alpine forests. It announces itself with extremely thin and high whistles, most often heard in autumn.
The rock partridge lives on grassy thermophilic (southern) slopes, in Slovenia almost exclusively in Posočje. Still, I think Košuta is a good habitat for it.
The ptarmigan lives above the shrub line on rocky terrain, but still needs some grass cushions. In winter they are practically entirely white, in summer protective gray (but the wings are snowy white in winter and summer).
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