spruce grouse
- noun
- /spruːs ɡraʊs/
- Specialized
:
gallineta de los abetos
- Many birdwatchers enjoy spotting the spruce grouse in its natural habitat, as it blends well with the trees.
Examples
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In the winter, the spruce grouse relies on spruces and pines for food and shelter from the snow.
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Another spruce grouse.
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That's a spruce grouse.
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During winters, our research team in Kluane saw hawk owls kill spruce grouse roughly as big as the owls themselves.
Academic text (2003) -
Several other species, both migratory and nonmigratory, such as the rufous-sided towhee, rock ptarmigan, and spruce grouse, also have longer guts at times of the year when they eat more food.
Academic text (1993) -
The spruce grouse can often be found foraging for evergreen buds in the coniferous forests of Canada.
Synonyms
A North American bird that lives in spruce forests and eats needles
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'spruce grouse' is directly compositional: combining 'spruce' (a type of tree) with 'grouse' (a bird) signals a species of grouse associated with spruce trees. This noun–noun naming pattern for animals is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Spruce grouse comes from a simple picture: this bird, a grouse, lives in spruce forests and often eats the tree's needles. So, the name means 'a grouse that lives in spruce trees'.
