Where the capercaillie lives. Alexander Stepanovich Yakovlev “capercaillie. Characteristics of capercaillie

(lat. Tetrao urogallus) - a large bird from the pheasant family, order chicken. By the name “capercaillie” the bird owes the well-known peculiarity of the male current during the mating season to lose sensitivity and alertness, which is often used by hunters.

The capercaillie is a representative of the largest forest game bird. It belongs to the order of chicken, the order of the actual chicken, the grouse family, the genus of capercaillie. The species of the capercaillie is divided into three subspecies, the white-bellied capercaillie, which lives in the central and eastern regions of Russia; taiga dark capercaillie, living in the northern and eastern regions of the country; black-bellied Western European capercaillie, living in the forests of the western regions of the country. In summer, capercaillie molt is observed during which the birds slaughter in especially strong forest places.

The habitat of capercaillie

Capercaillie bird lives in the forests of the European part of the country and Western Siberia. Throughout the forest zone, from the Baltic to the Yenisei, this large bird is well known to hunters. Eastern Siberia, the Far East, Kamchatka, and Sakhalin are inhabited by rock capercaillie, which is somewhat inferior to the ordinary one by weight. The capercaillie has a peculiarity - it does not “stall” during spring mating.

Capercaillie lives only where pine and cedar grow. For about six months, he feeds on the needles of these trees. In the snowless period, birds are found in a wide variety of forest lands. In summer, capercaillie, especially males, gravitate to lower damp places. At this time, they can most often be found near streams and rivers, along hummocky swamps.

The movements of capercaillie in certain places of its natural range are expressed to varying degrees. In the subzones of the middle and southern taiga, grouse make insignificant flights. On the contrary, in the zone of deciduous forests in the southern Urals and in the Altai mountains, wood grouse are more mobile and make long-distance migrations. The most noticeable migrations of capercaillie in the subzone of the northern taiga and forest tundra, where birds sometimes form large flocks during movements.

Capercaillie has an interesting and practically valuable trait - transported to a new place, they do not fly back and remain to live in places of release. In other words, they have no desire to return to their native lands. This determines the success of the release of capercaillie in places where they used to be and for some reason disappeared. Naturally, the forest land in the places of release should be suitable for the life of birds. In this case, they can be resettled even where they have not met before. In our country, the capercaillie is successfully resettled in northern Kazakhstan.

Capercaillie rarely makes long-distance migrations. Minor flights are caused by the search for pebbles and a seasonal change in feed or, what is less common, by finding places convenient for sleeping.

Experiments with the use of banding over a number of years have established that, for example, in the Vyatka forests, the predominant part of the capercaillie population during the fall occupies small areas of suitable forests. Of the 239 cases of recapture of grouse with rings, 63% of them were less than 1 km from the place of the previous meeting and 22% within 2 km. Only individual birds were found over 4 km at a distance of more than 5 km, and only one capercaillie was killed 20 km from the ringing site. The degree of mobility of males and females in these birds is approximately the same.

Capercaillie make insignificant movements in the spring, flocking to currents. On current, each capercaillie occupies its own individual site and flows on it from year to year. The place where the capercaillie was killed, other birds do not occupy for several years. Only isolated cases of capercaillie flights from one current to another within 3-5 km are known.

Nutrition in nature

The basis of nutrition in most of the range from mid-October to mid-May is pine needles (Pinus silvestris or P. sibirica). In the winter months, the diet consists exclusively of needles with a small admixture of young cones and terminal shoots. Pine needles are also consumed throughout the summer, but in very small quantities. In winter, along with pine needles, the diet includes a number of other minor components, among which juniper is most often used (twigs with needles and fruits). In cases where birds hibernate in forests devoid of pine, the basis of a winter diet can be made up of fir needles (Teplov, 1947; Dulkeit, 1964) and spruce needles (Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, 1959; Kuzmina, 1962; Ostrovsky, 1973 ) Earrings, buds, and terminal shoots of deciduous trees — birch, oak, aspen, linden, alder, elm, and willow — are much less common and mainly in the southern part of the range (Menzbir, 1902; Kirikov, 1952; our data). In some cases, birch catkins comprise up to 15% of goiter contents (Telepnev, 1972).

Spring, summer and autumn feeds are much more diverse and depend mainly on the vegetation of the area. Among the most important food items are blueberries, Vaccinium myrtillus (stems in autumn and spring, berries in summer and autumn), blueberries, V. uliginosum (leaves and berries in summer and autumn), vagina cotton grass, Eriophorum vaginatum (leaves and flowers in spring and in summer), dream grass, Pulsatilla patens (inflorescences in spring). In spring, grouse primarily eat fresh herbs, flowers and inflorescences of herbs, shrubs and trees. A characteristic component of the summer diet are seeds of herbaceous plants (sedge, mariannik, viviparous buckwheat), leaves and stems of horsetail and ferns, as well as leaves of various willows, aspen, birch, alder. In summer and early autumn, animals are also eaten: slugs, spiders, various insects, among which grasshoppers, ants and larvae of sawflies are preferred, sometimes even lizards. On the whole, the share of animal feed in the grouse diet is small and does not exceed 10% in July - August. Shedding birds especially consume animal food. In autumn, berries become the main food. In addition to them, in a number of areas larch needles, aspen leaves, pine nuts and acorns, and in some places cereals, are of great importance. Stocking pebbles in the fall is very important for grouse, and the need for the latter can even cause massive movements of birds, especially in lowlands, poor in outcrops. The maximum amount of pebbles in the stomach of the male is 71 g, and the female is 27 g. The most intensive collection of pebbles begins in the second half of September, especially after the first frosts, when the grouse begin to switch to winter food, and continues until the snow cover is established. In the morning dawns, birds fly out looking for pebbles on the banks of rivers and streams, on dirt roads and quarries, on cliffs of terraces and various kinds of outcrops of soil. During the winter, the number of gastrolites in the stomachs gradually decreases.

In the diet of chicks in the first two weeks of life, various insects and spiders predominate. Of the plant foods, the first to eat blueberry flowers (in the first week of life), and starting from the second week, the proportion of plant food increases every day. In August, the nutrition of young birds is not much different from adults, mostly a few more insects and greenery.

Appearance

The weight of adult males of the capercaillie is 4 kg on average, and 2 kg for females. Young capercaillie in the first autumn of their life reaches a weight of not more than 3.3 kg, in the second autumn - 3.9 kg and only at the age of over 3 their weight exceeds 4 kg. Young male grouse is easily distinguished from adults both in weight and in appearance - short and mottled tail, thin and weak beak.

The male’s head and neck are blackish, the back side of the neck is ash gray with black spots, the front black and gray. The back is blackish with brown and gray spots. The goiter is black with a green metallic sheen, the chest is a greenish-steel color, the underside is covered with black and white spots. The wings are brown. The tail is black with white spots. Bare skin near the eye is bright red, the beak is white and pink. The female is smaller and very colored with a mixture of rusty-yellow, rusty-red, black-brown and white (in the form of transverse dark and rust-ocher stripes). The throat, the fold of the wing and the upper part of the chest are rusty red.

Young female capercaillie reaches the size and weight of adults in the first fall, but they still retain a clearly visible distinguishing feature: the tips of the first and second wing feathers on the wings have a pointed shape and characteristic specks that disappear only after molting the next year.

Breeding

With the first glimpses of spring, wood grouse begin to change their winter habits. They are increasingly falling in the snow, seemingly for no reason pacing among the trees. In this case, the male is no, no, and he will draw wings in the snow, leaving traces on it, or "nabrody". These are the first harbingers of the approaching time of courtship games. In the northern parts of the range, "nabrody" appear around mid-March, in the southern - in the second half of February. The closer to spring, the more "nabrod" more. From the appearance of the first "nabrody" to the beginning of the currents, usually 3-4 weeks pass. Mating starts even if there is a continuous snow cover in the forest. With the advent of thaw on the current, females begin to fly out and the current intensity increases sharply. It reaches its peak by the time the snow in the forest almost completely disappears. Places of current, or current, from year to year are constant. Some of them have been known for many decades. The place where the capercaillie is fed can be recognized by the presence of one or several small (3-4 m2) areas trodden by birds and completely covered with snow wings. Later, when capercaillie begin to sleep on a current and sing, in the trees located around these places, you can find the birds themselves. Males often flock to the current site in the evening, but the current begins an hour or two before sunrise.

First, they flow in the trees, going lower and lower, and then fly to the ground. There, on earth, fierce fights between males occur, occurring with the appearance of females on the current. Tokuya on a tree, the male raises and lowers its tail, lowers its neck, raises and even throws its head back and slowly moves along the branch from the trunk to its end and back. The pose of a current bird on earth is the same. Heavily dipped wings are drawn in the snow or on the ground. Capercaillie song consists of two parts: the so-called clicking and chirping. Clicking resembles blows of a nail on an incomplete matchbox. It is repeated at certain intervals, gradually becoming more frequent and ending with a loud blow. Then follows a skir-kanye, reminiscent of the chirping of a magpie, partly a creak of snow in frost. Clicking can last several minutes, cracking - only two to three seconds. The sounds of the song are heard not far: the first part is 100-125 m away, the second is at a distance of about 200 m. During the cracking, the extremely sensitive capercaillie does not hear not only loud noise, but even an unsuccessful shot made from it (hence its name) .

Earlier it was believed that the capercaillie ceases to hear on current from strong nervous excitement. In fact, the reason for his temporary deafness is different. It turns out that in his ear canal there is a special lobe, or fold, abundantly equipped with blood vessels. During currenting, in particular at the time of chirping, this blade is poured with blood and swells so that when the capercaillie, opening his mouth while singing, presses it with one of the bones of the skull, it completely closes the ear canal. This moment is used by hunters, approaching the current capercaillie. The number of roosters flying to the current in different geographical areas varies, from a few birds to hundreds. The latter is observed where this bird has been preserved in significant numbers. Capercaillie begin to visit the current much later than males and leave them earlier than males. The duration of their participation in currents is approximately two times shorter than the duration of mating of males. Females stop visiting the current after they have finished laying and begin to incubate eggs, which is observed approximately around mid-May. In late May and early June, mating also ends.

Capercaillie - a polygamous bird, does not form steam. Having fulfilled their mating duty, the males climb into the most remote parts of the forest, where they begin to molt. The care of the offspring lies entirely with the female. Even in the period of currents, the female selects a suitable, rather high and dry place somewhere near the current site, usually no further than ½ -1 km. Here she makes her sophisticated nest - a small depression in the soil lined with rare blades of grass, leaves, sometimes single feathers. It is well protected from rain by a bunch of fallen leaves, tree branches and trunks, the roots of fallen pines and firs and is well camouflaged. Capercaillie lays eggs every other day, although there are indications that she does it every day. The full masonry contains from 5 to 16 eggs, painted in a yellowish-white color, with brown streaks. They are similar in size to chicken. The capercaillie incubates for 24 days, following a strict schedule: it exits from the nest three times a day - in the early morning, afternoon and evening.

Towards the end of the incubation, her attachment to the nest increases, and when in danger, she is not particularly in a hurry to leave it. Hatched chicks, having barely dried out, are free to follow their mother. The first days they are afraid of cold and moisture and therefore are often heated under the mother. In case of danger they skillfully hide and cannot be found with a dog at 2–3 days of age, as they leave a smell. When meeting with a man, the wood grouse tries to divert him from the brood.

Nestlings grow quite quickly and can re-fly at ten days of age, and fly well at a monthly age. Around this time, a downy outfit was completely replaced by a feather. Young females reach the size of adults at the beginning of the fourth month of life, but the growth of males ends no earlier than the end of summer of the second year of life. The death rate of chicks in the capercaillie is quite significant and, according to data for the northern parts of the range, is approximately 40-50%. If we compare the number of young wood grouse surviving by autumn with the number of eggs laid in the spring, the waste reaches 80%. The death of eggs and chicks occurs mainly due to late spring frosts, as well as from various predators - fox, goshawk, golden eagle, eagle owl, etc. Especially many chicks die from them at an early age. Young adults in the late summer and early fall fight off the uterus, and the males are a little earlier than the females.

In the southern parts of the range, this is observed approximately in the second half of August, in the northern parts - in the first half of September. The breakdown of broods coincides with the beginning of feeding on trees. At this time, wood grouse unite in flocks, consisting, as a rule, of birds of the same sex. These flocks remain without significant changes until the beginning of spring currents. At the end of summer (August), summer grouse is observed in some capercaillie in some southern parts of the range. It was noted only for young males of last year’s output, whose testes were enlarged at that time. Toking occurs exclusively on trees. Capercaillie on summer currents are extremely rare, there are no fights between males. The mating singing of capercaillie can often be heard also in the fall, and occasionally in the winter. But, unlike summer mating, it doesn’t occur on special current rods, but on feeding places, where males keep in common flock with females. This singing is not confined to a specific time of the day; it happens both in the morning and in the afternoon.

The winter life of the grouse is pretty monotonous. They spend most of the short winter day feeding, which takes place in their trees. Feeding areas are quite constant and limited to a small territory. Where there is deep snow cover, grouse spend the night in the snow, diving into it from a tree. In the northern parts of the range, they bury themselves in the cold in the snow during the day, and during severe frosts or snowstorms they hatch in it even for several days. Shedding in males and females is uneven. In females, on whom the cares of raising the young are laid, the feather changes gradually and it falls during the breeding season. Males begin to molt shortly after the end of the currents, they molt very rapidly. Around the middle of July, their plumage of the neck, back, wings, and tail was intensively replaced. There comes a time when the rooster completely loses its ability to fly when in danger, hiding in flight. This is due to the fact that at the time of molting, males are hammered into the thicket and other well-hidden places.

Number

The number of capercaillie birds in the field depends on many reasons. Anxiety of birds by mushroom pickers, berry-pickers and gum pickers during the period of reproduction and rearing of young animals leads to the fact that the broods of capercaillie eat poorly and die. Often ravaged nests when grazing cattle. In low snow winters at low temperatures, wood grouse, not being able to hide from the frost in the snow, die and their numbers drop sharply.

The abundance of wood grouse is negatively affected by clear-cutting of forests in the lands necessary for the habitat of birds, especially current plots.

Cocking grouse

Spring current grouse begins in April, sometimes earlier. The peak of current flowing occurs at the end of April - beginning of May, the end - approximately in the middle of May. Capercaillie currents are usually constant, but there are also such springs when there are no birds on currents or very few of them flow. Cocking is observed in addition to currents in places of feeding. Sometimes the current moves from place to place, if they are knocked out in separate sections of the birds.

Capercaillie begin to visit the current somewhat later cocks. In the midst of currents, they are very active, fly through the current with a loud clatter. Unlike females, roosters do not flow in windy rainy weather or flow for a short time and are very sluggish. As a result of this, hunters sometimes do not always make the correct conclusion that the current is already broken.

In May, wood grouse, laying 7-8 eggs, begin to incubate, which lasts about 26 days. The wood grouse makes a nest most often on the edge of a felling or forest glade, in places where thawed patches appear faster. Typically, the nest is located at a pile of brushwood, near the stumps, in the deadwood. The chicks at first eat exclusively animal food: various bugs, caterpillars, butterflies and other insects. The young capercaillie pecks only food that moves, so on cold days, when the mobility of insects drops sharply, capercaillie starve, grow poorly, and sometimes die.

Weather conditions in the second half of June and early July largely determine the survival rate of young animals. It happens that until the fall only half of the chicks survive, or even less.

Capercaillie grow fast, gaining 35-40 g daily. During the ripening period, they gain almost maximum weight for the first autumn chicks. Usually in August, young males are already heavier than adult grouse. In September, they fully dress in an adult outfit and only some young birds have a chick feather on their heads.

During the period of growing offspring by females, males, climbing into impassable supports, molt. The plumage takes them all summer.

Capercaillie are objects of sports and hunting places. In pre-revolutionary Russia (until 1917) this bird was brought annually from the northern provinces to the capital markets in a very significant amount and even more was consumed at the place of its production. In the spring, they hunted only male capercaillie, during mating, starting from the end of March and continuing until the first days of May. At the same time, the hunt was based on the fact that, during the chirping (the second part of the capercaillie song, the first is called clicking), the bird, throwing its head, rolling its eyes, puffing its feathers, unfolding its tail and half-lowering its wings, loses its usual visual acuity and sensitivity.

Using this circumstance, the hunters, having listened from a distance from the singing capercaillie, during his chirping, lasting 3-4 seconds, made several large jumps towards him. Then they remained motionless until the next chirping, during which they jumped again, and so continued until they approached the tree on which the capercaillie was flowing, at a distance of 30-50 steps, depending on the terrain. At the same time, they aimed at the capercaillie and pulled the trigger during a new chirping, as it often happened that after a miss, the capercaillie, without hearing the shot, did not fly off the tree and then managed to fire a second time.

In the summer, in July, they hunted for capercaillie broods, looking for them in forest berries (blueberries, blueberries, etc.) with a dog. In autumn, capercaillie was fired from huts and dugouts on oat stubs and winter crops, where capercaillie flew to feed, as well as from the approach in aspen and larch forests, where they were attracted by the taste of a withered aspen leaf or frost-beaten larch needle. In the winter, there was no hunting for a capercaillie with a gun, and they were mined, as in the fall, by special traps - traps, snares, slopts, smashes, springs, wireframes, and others. The old capercaillie was shot with shot No. 2-000, the young ones with a smaller shot (No. 4-7). Based on the rules approved by the tsarist government on February 3, 1892, hunting for capercaillie females was prohibited from March 1 to July 15, and for males from May 15 to July 15. Catching them by any means was prohibited throughout the year.

Capercaillie are representatives of the pheasant family, a subfamily of grouse. The bird owes its name to the fact that the male during the mating season loses alertness and sensitivity, which helps hunters to catch the bird.

Spring wood grouse flows in a pine forest.

Geography of residence

Today, capercaillie can be found only in the coniferous and mixed forests of Europe and North Asia, and their largest population is in Siberia. Earlier, capercaillie could be found on other continents, now their population is completely absent there.

Capercaillie on the current beating breast.

Capercaillie in the second half of summer.

Capercaillie in the fall.

Capercaillie in the winter.

Appearance

A photo of grouse shows the majesty and beauty of the bird. The size of the males is about more than 1 meter, and the weight varies from 4 to 6.5 kg, the female grouse is significantly less than no more than 80 cm long, and the weight is about 2 kg.

Sexual dimorphism of birds is expressed not only in size, the color of birds also varies significantly. The male plumage of the head is black, the neck is ashen and black and ashen. There are no feathers around the eyes, and the skin is colored red, the beak is lighter - white-pink. The color of the back is black with gray and brown spots. The goiter is black with a gray-green shine, the chest is green. The plumage of the wings is brown, the tail is black with white specks.

The female capercaillie is very variegated - the feathers are red, yellow, black-brown and white. The feathers are rusty red on the throat and fold of the wings.

Capercaillie in the winter.

Stone capercaillie, surroundings of Yakutsk.

The current stone capercaillie. The surroundings of Yakutsk.

Capercaillie pours in a pine forest.

Nutrition and Behavior

Capercaillie is an omnivorous bird, in the spring and summer months the basis of their diet is tree buds, small leaves of trees, blades of grass, berries, seeds, various insects. Since October, larch needles become their main food, and in winter, wood grouse feed on needles and kidneys.

A favorite occupation in life for these birds is tokovanie. They talk at any time of the year, regardless of the mating season. Capercaillie fly extremely rarely, move more on the ground, if suddenly the bird decides to fly, then it will not rise above the trees.

The current stone capercaillie. The surroundings of Yakutsk.

Female capercaillie in winter.

Male capercaillie tokens.

Capercaillie flies between veteran spruce.

The capercaillie took off.

Capercaillie in the winter in the snow.

Male capercaillie in flight, front view.

Breeding

Capercaillie does not create permanent pairs, several females can come to one male at once. The mating season begins in March, the birds gather on the currents - from year to year they are located in the same place. After the end of the mating season in April, the female begins arranging the nest, for this she finds a suitable hole, which is lined with twigs and leaves.

In the clutch there are usually 5-8 eggs, in rare cases there can be up to 16 pieces. The eggs are painted yellow-gray with dark specks. Small capercaillie is born after 3.5 - 4 weeks, only the female incubates them, only the mother is responsible for the safety of newborns.

The photo shows that the fluff in newborns is not enough to keep warm, so mom should take care of their warming. After the last chick is born, the female takes the babies to a safe place, the first days they hide under her wings, but after a few days they are able to camouflage themselves very dexterously in the grass.

Two-week-old chicks are able to fly over short distances, and on days 30–33 they are not inferior to their parents in flights. At the end of summer, male males that have grown up abandon their mother, and females can still stay with her for a short time.

The female capercaillie "pouted" on a log.

In nature, there are cross-breeds of capercaillie with black grouse, such birds are called “mezhnyak”, such birds do not produce offspring.
In winter, the birds hide in the snow "dens", getting out of them only for food, however, even in these dens they hear the approach of a predator or hunter.
Only 20% of capercaillie eggs are kept intact due to raids by predators; only 50% of hatched chicks survive.
The life span of the grouse leaves about 12 years.
It is almost impossible to tame grouse, and in captivity they rarely breed.

Among the many tales, it is especially fascinating to read the tale "The Greedy Capercaillie (Altai Tale)", it feels the love and wisdom of our people. Domestic problems are an incredibly successful way, with the help of simple, ordinary, examples, to convey to the reader the most valuable centuries-old experience. The main character always wins not by treachery and cunning, but by kindness, kindness and love - this is the main quality of children's characters. Folk tradition cannot lose its urgency, due to the inviolability of such concepts as friendship, compassion, courage, courage, love and sacrifice. The desire to convey a deep moral assessment of the actions of the main character, prompting to rethink yourself, is crowned with success. Rivers, trees, animals, birds - everything comes to life, filled with vibrant colors, helps the heroes of the work in gratitude for their kindness and affection. Thanks to the developed children's imagination, they quickly revive in their imagination colorful pictures of the world around them and supplement the spaces with their visual images. The fairy tale "Greedy capercaillie (Altai fairy tale)" is free to read online for free, it will educate in your child only good and useful qualities and concepts.

On the last autumn, birds arrived at the edge of the forest.

It’s time for them to warm places. Seven days gathered, echoed with each other:

Is everything here? Is that all? Is everything here?

It turns out that there is not enough capercaillie. He hit the golden eagle with his hunchbacked nose on a dry branch, tapped again and ordered the young aunt to call the capercaillie. Whistling its wings, a tetra flew into the thicket of the forest. He sees that the capercaillie is sitting on a cedar, peeling nuts from cones.

Dear capercaillie! We all want to go to warmer climes. We have been waiting for you alone for seven days.

Well, well, don't talk in vain! In warm land to fly is not in a hurry. How many nuts are left here! Is it really necessary to give up all this?

Teterka returned to the edge of the forest.

Capercaillie, she says, eats nuts, doesn’t rush to fly away.

Then he sent a golden eagle of a fast hawk. Spin the hawk over a large cedar. And the wood grouse sits, creaks with his beak, picks nuts from cones.

Oh, wood grouse, birds have been waiting for you for fourteen days, it’s time to fly to the warm lands!

Nothing, nothing to rush, the grouse creaked. - We will succeed. You have to eat before the road.

The golden eagle became angry and flew ahead to all the birds in the warm lands.

And the grouse picked nuts for another seven days. On the eighth he sighed, pecking his beak on feathers:

“No, apparently, I don’t have enough strength to eat all this. I have to leave the squirrels. "

And he flew to the edge of the forest.

What?

Cedar needles showered. Branches waving bare rods. These birds waited two weeks for the capercaillie; The feet of the trees are white, as seen by the snow, standing. These are the birds, waiting for the capercaillie, they cleaned their feathers.

Bitterly cried, the capercaillie creaked:

Of all the birds, only I remained in the forest! How am I going to winter alone? From tears red eyebrows at the capercaillie. Since then, all his children, and grandchildren, and nephews, listening to this story, weep bitterly. And all the children of the capercaillie, and the grandchildren, and the nephews have red eyebrows like rowan.

Detachment - Chicken

Family - Teter

Genus / Species - Tetrao urogallus

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Length: 60 cm, male capercaillie (see photo) is larger than the female.

Wingspan: 87-135 cm.

Weight: up to 6.5 kg.

Propagation

Puberty: male from 3 years old, female before.

Nesting period: April June.

Bearing: 1 per season.

Number of eggs: 7-9.

Incubation: 26-28 days.

Chicks are on the wing: at the age of 2-3 weeks.

LIFESTYLE

Habits: live in packs in winter.

Food: plants, insects.

Sounds: "flowing" and "turning".

Life span: up to 10 years.

KINDS

The closest relative of the capercaillie is the black grouse.

Capercaillie is the largest representative of the black grouse family. Despite its large mass, this bird also feeds on trees. In snowy winters, capercaillie cram in the snowy chambers at night. In winter, birds feed on pine needles or cedars.

Propagation

Male and female capercaillie keep separate from each other all year, meeting only during the mating season. At the beginning of the nesting period, males gather in groups on current rods, where they compete with each other: show off fan-shaped and spread out tails, drag wings along the ground and stretch their necks with ruffled feathers, at the same time giving out clattering sounds.

In the early morning grouse sing, sitting on separate trees. Capercaillie song is divided into two parts and consists of "flowing" and "turning". Ornithologists transmit the “flow” as “te-ke ... te-ke ... te-ke ...”. The wood grouse loses his hearing during the performance of the second part of the song, the so-called "turning". After sunrise, the capercaillie flies to the ground and accelerates competitors. Females watch the mating and fights of males sitting in the trees, and then mate with the winner.

All the worries about future chicks fall on the shoulders of the capercaillie. At the base of the tree trunk, the female digs a shallow hole, which is lined with needles, moss, grass or heather and lays seven to nine eggs in it. The motley bird incubates a clutch well hidden from the eyes of predators. Newborn chicks are covered with brown down, dotted with dark spots and stripes. A few hours later they leave the nest, and at the age of 10 days they already know how to fly.

WHERE LIVES

Capercaillie live in the forests of Eurasia. They are found in the territory from the Scandinavian peninsula to Siberia. In Central Europe, this species is declining annually. Favorite places of the grouse settlement are old coniferous forests with large glades of blueberries, the berries and leaves of which he eats all year. This bird benefits from its proximity to the anthill, which gives the chicks protein-rich food. Capercaillie is a very shy bird. In summer, he flies little, hiding in the thickets of blueberries and undergrowth. The wood grouse also builds its well-hidden nest on the ground.

In winter, the bird spends a lot of time on the trees. In those regions where there is a lot of snow, the capercaillie survives due to the thick subcutaneous layer of fat, which serves as an insulating material and energy storage. In winter, wood grouse gather in flocks numbering from 5 to 25 birds. Males most often stay separate from females.

WHAT IS FOOD

In summer, capercaillie feeds on green parts of dwarf shrubs, insects and their larvae, as well as leaves, young shoots, blueberries, lingonberries and dropsy, sedge, marsh ledum, moss and blackberry leaves. Capercaillie look for insects and larvae in the soil, raking it with legs and beak. Beak birds also tear leaves and buds from plants. In winter, wood grouse live in coniferous or mixed forests, in which coniferous trees predominate. In Central Europe, wood grouse has chosen juniper thickets and pine forests. In the cold season, birds feed on needles and young cones. Female capercaillie chicks lead to anthills, since the nutrient larvae of these insects are optimally suited for the rapid development of young birds. Later, the chicks begin to hunt for other insects and spiders.

OCEANOUS OBSERVATIONS

Feathers cover the feet of the male capercaillie right down to the very fingers. The color of the feathers of this bird from afar seems to be gray-black, but nearby you can distinguish a greenish shade of the chest and brown wings with white spots near the elbow joints.

The female wears a colorful plumage with dark dots and stripes. Short, with rounded ends, the capercaillie wings are best suited for shunting flight between trees. Capercaillie leaves the forest only in exceptional cases. A bird can walk on tree branches.

DESCRIPTION

On cold winter nights, grouse burrow in the snow, and in severe frosts they sit in snow holes almost all day.

Capercaillie is a big bird. Males reach a size and weight of 4 kg. Females are slightly smaller, the size of a chicken. They live in forests of various types, but prefer conifers. Capercaillie feed on berries, seeds, young shoots, pine nuts. In early spring, during the breeding season, capercaillie gather on currents that occur in one place for decades. Males are so keen on singing that they stop hearing, stall, become in different poses, and sometimes fight. All care for the offspring lies on the “shoulders” of the females - they equip nests on the ground, lay 5-8 eggs, incubate them and raise babies. Capercaillie is a valuable species of game.

The capercaillie, while mating, loses his hearing and sight for some time - and by this he reminds a man in love. The similarity of the physiological state inherent in a certain period of life to the capercaillie and man is noted in the proverbs of many peoples. So, for example, in German folklore we find such a proverb: "Love makes the capercaillie blind and a man a child."
It happens that female capercaillie sometimes mate with male black grouse - as a result, barren hybrid individuals are born.
In the early days of life, chicks are in danger from predators and humans.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE CAPACITY

Male: the back is black with a blue tint, the chest is with a green metallic sheen, and the beard is short under the beak. In flight on chestnut wings white signs are visible; belly and tail are also marked with white spots. During mating, the male wears a tail, spread out in the form of a fan.

Eyebrows: during mating, red leathery outgrowths swell above the eyes in males.

Beak: strong, ivory, with a hooked curved end; serves to disrupt the kidneys.

Bearing: consists of about 7-9 eggs of sand or yellow-brown color with reddish spots.

Female: significantly smaller than the male. The plumage is brown with a black and white pattern, the chest is red, most of the belly is white. The female capercaillie is called a teter or kopalukha.

Chicks: covered with a fluff of protective color. A few hours after birth, they exit the nest and are already able to independently get their own food, but the chicks are very sensitive to cold and damp.

- The habitat of the capercaillie

WHERE LIVES

Capercaillie inhabits the coniferous and mixed forests of Eurasia from the Scandinavian countries and Scotland to Lake Baikal, the French mountains of the Vosges and Jura, and is also found in the Pyrenees and the Alps.

PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION

The number of species is catastrophically reduced due to the development of the forest industry.

The current capercaillie. Video (00:00:41)

The capercaillie song is heard in the early spring morning when approaching the zoo. The current capercaillie is a bewitching sight. Few people manage to see this in nature. But every spring the capercaillie gives joy to employees and visitors of the Perm Zoo. The video was shot by zoologist of the bird department Starova Olga.

Capercaillie on current. Video (00:00:33)

Wild capercaillie in Yailu. Video (00:01:58)

Capercaillie fed on leaves of domestic apple trees, sometimes descended to the ground for clover leaves. He drank water from utensils for domestic ducks and calmly walked next to them. Sometimes he flew to the northern outskirts of the village, but after a while he returned to his former compound

Capercaillie on current. Video (00:01:05)

Capercaillie on current. Capercaillie. Current. Capercaillie song.

Capercaillie talkin on a tree. Video (00:01:33)

Capercaillie tokens on a tree

Capercaillie - godfather of taiga. Video (00:04:41)

Capercaillie attacks a person
http://nemcd.com/2014/02/gluxar-paxan-tajgi/

This is a satisfied large bird from a pheasant family, a subfamily of grouse. Males are very effective and have beautiful plumage.

Appearance

Males at puberty reach 110 cm and have a half-meter wingspan. Body weight is slightly different in males and varies from 4 to 6 kg.

Female capercaillie is much smaller and weigh on average only 2 kg.

The male has a beautiful plumage. The color of the male is a black head and neck; the nape is painted in a lighter gray shade, but with small black spots. The back is dark in color with brown and gray spots. Around the eyes, the skin is bare, without feather cover, red.

The female has the same shades, but much less variegated.

Habitat

The bird prefers mixed and coniferous forests, it is very rare to find it in deciduous forests. Often found in marshes covered with moss, where she loves to feast on various berries.

Therefore, in Russia this bird can be seen both in its European part, and in the Asian. Although in connection with deforestation their habitats were reduced, they did not disappear completely.

Also inhabited by:

in Spain;
in the Alps;
in the Carpathians;
in Sweden.

Lifestyle and habits

Actually, capercaillie is a bird leading a sedentary lifestyle, not flying to other places. Rarely does he move into the mountains and back into the woods. It flies over short distances, flapping its wings heavily and noisily. During the day he walks on the ground, and at night hides in the foliage on the trees. His hearing and vision are excellent and therefore, if there is a need to catch him on a hunt, then this will be a difficult matter.

Capercaillie in winter converge into small flocks and stick together. When the temperature drops much, ordinary capercaillie with a stone falls into the snow, burrowing into it with his head - this protects them from freezing.

Nutrition

What does the capercaillie eat in the summer?

The capercaillie eats various green shoots to which it can reach, and also:

flowers;
grass
wild berries;
insects.

But this is summer, and what does the capercaillie eat in the bad season? In autumn and winter, the capercaillie does not disdain coniferous branches, where he eats pine and spruce buds with pleasure. Also, the bird loves berries of mountain ash and juniper.

So that coarse food is better absorbed by the capercaillie, he swallows small pebbles to grind it.

Breeding

When spring comes, grouse talk in certain places that do not change from year to year. These places are called currents.

They can current both on the ground and on tree branches, making specific sounds resembling crackling, making their throats and moving at the same time, as if dancing in one place. At the same time, the feathers of the male are very puffy. Tokuya, he loses his last vigilance.

This whole concert begins in the predawn time and continues until the sun rises. After the appearance of the first sunlight, he flies up to the females and tramples them. Actually, he attracts females to himself with such an exciting song. A person can hear mating for half a kilometer, and female grouse in infrasound hear for a kilometer.

Sometimes fights break out between two males, which end with the death of one of the birds.

After successful mating, the females dig a shallow hole on the ground and cover it with down and leaves, where they lay their eggs. Dirty yellow eggs in the clutch can be from 6 pieces to 15.

Hatching lasts 28 days. Only the female is engaged in hatching and feeding the chicks.

Enemies in nature

Since capercaillies often go headlong into mating songs at the current site, it is not difficult for predators to get this bird for lunch.

Hunting

A man also goes hunting to shoot a capercaillie, who has tasty and nutritious meat. But sometimes such a hunt goes simply into excitement, and then the bird does not die for food, but for the boast of trophies.

The capercaillie hunt opens in late August and is held until the beginning of spring. There are many ways you can hunt for this bird. And each hunter chooses for himself the option in which luck smiles more at him.

It is always informative to learn interesting facts from the life of birds. First of all, many are wondering why the bird was called the capercaillie?

The name is explained by the fact that while the male is talking to the female, he stops hearing everything around, so is carried away by his courtship. For him at this moment there is complete silence around, and he hears only his song dedicated to the female.

And this is what hunters use well, since at such a moment you can slowly approach a bird and put it in a bag with your bare hands. She will come to her senses already caught.

Capercaillie and black grouse are kindred birds and sometimes female capercaillie mate with male black grouse, then barren chicks are barren.

To distract the natural enemy from the chicks, the female capercaillie, pretending to be wounded, leads them away from the nest.

By early September, adult males leave the nest, and older females still live with their mother for some time.

Video

You can learn how capercaillie behave on a current from our video.

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