Capercaillie and Black Grouse on leks, Red Grouse and Rock Ptarmigan in courtship, these are the "famous grouse" we'll take in on our first intoxicating Birding Plus tour to Scotland. Though both considered representative of communal courtship, the two courting behaviors at Capercaillie and Black Grouse leks--very different in their composure--display opposing models of competition, the huge Caper's suggestive of a violent battle between two gladiators, the grouse's illustrative of the artistic prowess of a group of dancers. Whether impressed by pugilistic or aesthetic display, polygamous females pick the bonniest. Red Grouse and Rock Ptarmigan, playing to a different drummer, exhibit strict monogamy, the males winning over females with their singular swellings, and both sexes defend a territory from other pairs. A series of Highland dawns spent witnessing these inebriating performances of bird play makes for a natural high of the first order.

In addition to Scotland's displaying grouse, we'll enjoy dividends on her isle of Islay and in her rolling Highlands, where we'll visit some of Scotland's finest distilleries, and, in a sweep of RSPB reserves and historic mulls and lochs, we'll catch the remnants of wintering waterfowl, absorb a little literary culture, and discover the nature of Gaelic craic in this land of whisky and Enlightenment. Our goal to see Eurasian Dotterel and Rock Ptarmigan is weather dependent in the Highlands, but crossbills and Crested Tits, dippers and Ring Ouzels, Red Kites, and Corn Crakes, along with other returning spring migrants, are to be expected. And, if you ve always thought of David Hume, Adam Smith, and Rabbie Burns as the most illustrious figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, you're sure to come away with a more enlightened view.

Download an itinerary, triplist(s), request space, and see more about this tour...