The Capercaillie bird (Tetrao urogallus) is also known as the Wood Grouse or Western Capercaillie. The Capercaillie bird is the largest member of the grouse family, reaching over 100 centimetres in length and 4 kilograms in weight.

Found across northern Europe and Asia, it is renowned for its unique mating display. Male Capercaillie are called ‘cocks’ and females are called ‘hens’. Find out more!

Both male and female Capercaillie birds have a white spot on the wing bow. They have feathered legs, especially in the cold season for protection against cold. Their toe rows of small, elongated horn tacks provide a snowshoe effect that led to the German family name ‘Rauhfusshühner’, literally translated as ‘raw feet chickens’.

These so called ‘courting tacks’ make a clear track in the snow in winter. Both male and female Capercaillie birds can also be distinguished very easily by the size of their footprints. There is a bright red spot of naked skin above each eye. In German hunters’ language, these are the so-called ‘roses’.

The Capercaillie is a herbivore and lives on a variety of foods including buds, leaves, berries, insects, grasses and in the winter mostly conifer needles. You can see the food remains in their droppings, which are about 1 centimetre in diameter and 5 – 6 centimetres in length. Most of the year the droppings are of solid consistency, but with the ripening of blueberries, these dominate the diet and the faeces become formless and bluish-black.