Western Capercaillie (Wood Grouse)
Latin: Tetrao urogallus (Linné 1758)
Svenska: Tjäder
Deutsch: Auerhuhn
Battle in the old-growth forest
The old-growth forest is the capercaillie's domain. In early April, they gather there to lek. Lekking begins in among the trees, just before the first light of dawn.
The male capercaillies stretch out their necks, turn up their beaks, and fan out their tailfeathers. They emit an extended, accelerating clucking sound that ends with a sound like a cork popping off a bottle.
As the morning lightens, the males leave the shelter of the trees and take their places on the lekking ground. They follow certain paths and practiced manoeuvers, sometimes hopping into the air and flapping their wings. Now and then, two males will duel by bumping against each other.
The females hang around near the lekking ground for some weeks. This is the only time during the year when the females are at the same location as the males. After the females mate with one or more males, they disappear from the lekking ground. The males leave the lekking ground in late May.
Needles and gravel
The capercaillie is the giant of the old-growth forest, weighing upwards of 5 kilograms. If you frighten one in the forest, it may crash its wings as it flies away. The males thrive in older pine forests with rocky ground, though the females are often found in younger pine and spruce foests. The capercaillie has its own special winter diet: pine needles. No other bird can sustain itself on this nutrient-poor diet. Capercaillies often have favourite trees to eat from. They eat many needles off of certain pines - so many that the trees' crowns begin to look quite empty.
In early may, capercaillies change diet and eats cottongrass. During summer they switch yet again to billberry.
You might see a capercaillie on a gravel road - it eats gravel to help with digestion of the tough pine needles. It has strong muscles in its stomach which squeeze the rocks together with the needles, so the capercaillie can take in the nutrients. Scat from a capercaillie is about 5 centimeters long, as thick as a little finger, and full of needles.
Capercaillies are spread sparsely throughout coniferous forests. Their numbers were greater in the past, when large leks were also common in the southwestern part of the county. If you want to see a capercaillie, you should try Pansarudden and Färnebofjärden national park. Closer to Uppsala, you might see a capercaillie along Linneaus' Jumkil trail.
Latest sightings of Western capercaillies in Uppland
NatureGate on the Western capercaillie
Wikipedia article on the Western capercaillie