Western capercaillie

Scientific name: Tetrao urogallus

How weight is recorded: Whole weight

Field notes

Appearance

Males are massive, dark metallic-black with iridescent green breast and throat; females are smaller, mottled grey-brown with rufous barring. Both sexes show white underwing coverts and rounded tail; males have pronounced lyre-shaped tail feathers.

Size and weight

Males: 75–100 cm, 3.5–6.5 kg. Females: 55–65 cm, 1.5–2.5 kg.

Habitat

Western capercaillie inhabit mature coniferous and mixed forests with dense understory, typically at 500–2,000 m elevation. They require large territories with bilberry and lingonberry cover, moss, and open forest floor for roosting and feeding.

Distribution

Found across boreal and temperate coniferous forests from Scandinavia east to central Russia and south to the Alps and Pyrenees. Prefers contiguous, undisturbed mature forest blocks.

Diet

Capercaillie feed on conifer needles and buds in winter, switching to bilberries, lingonberries, clover, and insects in summer; chicks require high-protein invertebrates.

Behaviour

Crepuscular, most active at dawn and dusk; males are solitary except during breeding; birds roost in trees at night and move to sheltered forest floor by day. Winter birds often remain in small areas; summer birds range more widely.

Hunting tips

Search for scat (dark, often twisted droppings 2–3 cm long) and slot marks in soft ground or snow. Listen for wing-beats and crash-landing from roost trees at dawn. Approach into wind through dense cover, moving slowly during feeding hours; birds flush explosively with loud wing-clap when alarmed, so expect rapid, heavy flight through trees.

Whole weight

This species is logged by whole weight — the animal weighed entire, as taken.

Where it is hunted

Listed as huntable in 10 countries in Huntify.

Names in other languages

These field notes are general species knowledge, not legal advice. Always check the current seasons, quotas and firearm rules where you hunt.