- Tetrao urogallus
Description
The Western Capercaillie is the largest species of grouse in the world. The male weighs up to 5kg and measures up to 95cm in length (of which 30-40cm is its long, rounded tail). The female is much smaller, weighing around 2kg and measuring up to 65cm in length, with a proportionally shorter tail than the male. The plumage of the two sexes is also quite different. The male is predominantly dark slate-grey, but with blacker underparts, a dark, glossy green breast and dark brown wings and mantle. Creamy-white speckles often form a band across the central tail feathers and white patches at the shoulder can be very prominent, even from a distance when the male can otherwise appear almost all black. The head of the male capercaillie is very impressive, with a substantial, hooked ivory bill, red eye-wattle and a ragged beard of black feathers on the throat. In flight, whitish-grey underwings can be very obvious. The female capercaillie is predominantly rufous-brown, with heavy black and white barring, particularly on the flanks. The breast is unmarked and appears as a prominent orange-chestnut patch, whil the rounded tail is strongly barred orange-chestnut and black. The capercaillie is a strong flier, usually below or just above the tree canopy, but occasionally on longer flights (e.g. across valleys) at higher altitude, when the long tail of the male is particularly obvious.
