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"rogue" Capercaillies...Close encounter! (1 Viewer)

buzzard12

Well-known member
Went to see this guy today, an out of range rogue male Capercaillie, present for the second year on the trot at this site. A fabulous bird. Very aggressive individual with no fear of humans whatsoever, has a particular aversion to cars and attacks any slow moving or parked vehicles in the area.
Unfortunatly this guys prospects of finding a mate in this area are very slim, perhaps this lends itself to the birds behaviour.
I have heard that certain individuals display this kind of behaviour, wondering if anyone out there has come across one of these individuals?

more photos etc. at the blog below...
 

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I remember watching David Attenborough being attacked by a "Caper" in Glentanar Pinewoods on Deeside,during one of his programmes.I am sure this rogue (not David..!) even had a nickname to the locals.
 
Great pictures! There have been a few rogues over the years in this part of the world, although I have never managed to see one myself. The most recent was not far from my home, but disappeared a few years ago.
 
Capercaillie71 said:
Great pictures! There have been a few rogues over the years in this part of the world, although I have never managed to see one myself. The most recent was not far from my home, but disappeared a few years ago.

Plenty of rogues near here but unfortunately no rogue Caper's.
 
Ben Nevis said:
I remember watching David Attenborough being attacked by a "Caper" in Glentanar Pinewoods on Deeside,during one of his programmes.I am sure this rogue (not David..!) even had a nickname to the locals.


Don't know about Glentanar but I wetn to see "Mad George" at Forest Lodge a couple of times and he attacked my non-birding brother, giving me a hell of a laugh. Unfortunately I was so busy laughing I didn't get any pictures of the attack - got some great ones of George on his own though.

John
 
Unfortunately never seen it.

I heard that this happens when bird is isolated and cannot find a mate of own species. They seem to be attracted to color black (color of male's plumage). If you watch David Attenborough film, he has big black gloves which he points at the Caper.

I heard of at least one fearless hen Capercaille in Poland which approached people and crouched, like waiting to be mated. it was caught by hand and put in cage - unfortunately.
 
jurek said:
I heard that this happens when bird is isolated and cannot find a mate of own species.

I have heard that too, although the ones that have occurred in my part of the world have not usually been particularly isolated.

This report (Page 18 - Behaviour) suggests that disturbance (e.g. proximity to a road or track) may be a factor that encourages rogue behaviour:

http://www.cairngorms.co.uk/resourc...aillie and Recreational Disturbance Study.txt

It is certainly strange behaviour for a bird that is usually so shy and easily disturbed.
 
Great bird !! To you Scots : take care of this one lads, this is the most magnificent Grouse species in the world. I've planned a vacation in Scotland for next year, probably the Glencoe area : any Capercaillies there, or are they further northeast ?
 
GreatHornedOwl said:
I've planned a vacation in Scotland for next year, probably the Glencoe area : any Capercaillies there, or are they further northeast ?

Unfortunately there are no capercaillies in the Glencoe area. The majority of the population is in Strathspey (130km NE of Glencoe - about 2 hrs drive), with other populations to the north (Moray and Easter Ross), east (Deeside and Donside) and south (Perthshire and the Loch Lomond Islands).

However, they are very difficult to see and the only facilities available for viewing them are in Strathspey, during the lekking period (April/May) at Loch Garten:

http://www.capercaillie-life.info/htm/bird_where_to_see.php
 
It is a great bird, will have to make the trip again in the coming weeks.

This guy is an isolated individual with little hope of meeting a mate where he is, Also 100m away from a main road. Approaches humans and displays to them, only attacks cars violently.........

Can be a little intimidating. To give you all an idea of this birds attraction to humans click on the link below at google video. Took this grab on a Canon A95. The swedish gentleman is trying to back away from the bird after it approached him and began displaying to him. The bird stayed with him for 5 minutes before wandering off a short distance, until that point followed the chap everywhere he went...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1569847936578750722&hl=en
 
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Thanks to some great directions from buzzard12 my wife and I had the chance to see the bird today and we weren't disappointed to put it mildly. It followed me about for a while, displaying, and we got some great pictures. These two are just resized and sharpened.
As an added bonus a White-tailed Eagle flew overhead while we were having lunch. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture as I had a thermos flask in my hand at the time.
Graham
 

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Macswede said:
Thanks to some great directions from buzzard12 my wife and I had the chance to see the bird today and we weren't disappointed to put it mildly. It followed me about for a while, displaying, and we got some great pictures. These two are just resized and sharpened.
As an added bonus a White-tailed Eagle flew overhead while we were having lunch. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture as I had a thermos flask in my hand at the time.
Graham

Delighted you got to see this guy, quite a character! Great photos, the new camera should stand you in good stead!
 
Wow!

What a neat bird! You're very lucky to be able to view and photograph this bird. It likes a cross between a wild turkey and some sort of bird of prey.
 
I felt vey privileged to have had the chance to see and photograph him. He's a got lots of personality and is very striking looking. It's a day I'll never forget.
Graham
 
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