Western Capercaillie

How to recognise it

• Male much larger than female, with a greenish breast showing strong metallic gloss
• Male's head, throat and upper breast finely vermiculated black and pale grey
• Female mottled blackish brown, rusty yellow and grey, with a plain orange-brown breast
• Red, swollen bare-skin eyebrow and a yellowish white bill on older birds

Call and song

It is usually silent except in spring, when the males display. The display opens with clicks like thin wooden sticks knocked together, 8 to 10 times, ever faster. Then comes a pop like a cork pulled from a bottle, then hissing like a scythe being sharpened. The pop carries best, up to 100 to 150 metres in calm weather.

Where and when

It is a resident and is reported all year round. It occurs in all larger conifer forests from northern Skåne up to the conifer tree line in the Lapland mountains. It prefers open forest over 90 years old and avoids clear-cuts, plantations, open bogs and meadows. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Jämtland, Norrbotten and Dalarna. It is not red-listed in the Swedish Red List 2025.

Food and behaviour

In winter it eats mainly pine needles. On bare ground bilberry matters most, the whole plant including leaves. In summer it stays mostly on the ground but spends the night in trees. Taking off, it makes a sudden roaring sound. Males usually gather at leks in early April, displaying with fanned tail and dragging wings. The female lays 8 to 9 eggs in a simple ground hollow.