CAPERCAILLIE

The Capercaillie in Somiedo

The largest grouse in Europe — bigger and heavier than a domestic cockerel — it makes short, noisy flights. It is sedentary and long-lived, inhabiting Somiedo's beech, oak, birch and mixed woodlands.

It feeds on ferns, heather, the tender shoots of beech on high branches, plant flowers, larvae and insects, holly leaves, bilberries, rosehips, rowberries, acorns, etc. Males have a black head and neck with blue-green iridescence on the breast; the tail is black with some white spots; above the eyes there is a bright red fleshy wattle; the bill is ivory-coloured and the legs are feathered. Females have a streaked and mottled plumage of brown, black and whitish-grey, with a reddish-chestnut breast and a very rounded tail. Lekking sites in Somiedo are usually located in beech woods, where one or more males attempt to attract females by fanning their colourful tail to 180° and singing frenetically.

The breeding season takes place in April, coinciding with bud burst in its woodland habitat. During the rut, the male sings at dusk to attract females, at fixed traditional sites called cantaderos to which they return year after year. The song consists of three phases, often followed by a ground display. There may be more than one male at a cantadero, though this is becoming increasingly rare. Nests are built on the ground, usually among shrubs, where 4 to 8 eggs are laid. Both eggs and chicks are easy prey for some predators despite their excellent camouflage. A normal clutch is 5–8 eggs, sometimes 10 or even 12, cream-coloured finely spotted with brown; incubation lasts 26–29 days (usually 28) and the male plays no part in incubation or feeding.

The female excavates the nest in the ground at the foot of a tree; in an emergency she leaves, covering the eggs with soil and leaf litter. During the breeding season it makes a sound resembling the lowing of the aurochs (the wild ancestor of domestic cattle, now extinct) — hence the Spanish name urogallo. It is cold-hardy, with feathered legs and nostrils to protect its airways from the freezing air. The chicks are raised by the female, who takes them to forest clearings; they live separately from the adult male. Normally only one chick survives and with luck will attempt its first flight at around 15 to 20 days old. Chicks leave the nest shortly after hatching and hide in vegetation. Very wary and difficult to see.

Dimensions:

Adult males can reach 1 metre in length.

Weight:

Adult males weigh between 3.5 and 4 kg; females between 1.5 and 2.5 kg.

Longevity:

Capercaillie can live up to around 20 years.

Signs of capercaillie presence

• Lekking sites: An open, grassy area in the interior of ancient deciduous woodland with a good proportion of dead trunks and trees.

• Nests: The nest is built by the female, who excavates a hollow in the ground, usually at the foot of a large tree — sometimes quite visible, but more often hidden among shrubby vegetation, deep moss on a shaded slope, or sheltered by an old half-rotten trunk fallen on the ground.

Tracks

The capercaillie is very wary and difficult to see. Its footprint in mud or snow is distinctive: three strong forward- pointing toes and one very short hind toe (9–10 cm in females, 11–12 cm in males).