Look at me!

Spring is lekking season for the black grouse. In the early morning, the male birds gather on lek sites, often patches of open ground, to put on a show for the females. The guys flash their white tail feathers, utter cooing and hissing noises, flutter, jump and pick fights with each other - all to demonstrate their dominance to the watching hens. (Hens are smaller and have grey-brown feathers.) When a hen picks out the male she likes, the two fly off to mate and then go their separate ways. Love connections are brief in the black grouse world.
© Oliver Smart/Alamy