Black grouse at La Forclaz

After admiring the stunning view over the Quermoz (2,297m) peak, Roc Marchand (2,098m) and La Lauzière mountain range, lower your gaze. For the patchwork of blueberry heathland, grasslands and thickets of green alders is home to the black grouse. Nicknamed the "little heather cock", this is a symbolic bird of upland areas, a surviving species from the ice ages. Sedentary and unsociable, the black grouse is famous for its expressive courting displays, when the males challenge each other through birdsong. Its numbers are unfortunately in decline, so please make sure you stay on the footpaths so as not to disturb them.