Capercaillie Call MP3s
A recording of the Capercaillie's unusual lekking display call, intended for identification, lek-watching preparation, and wildlife study rather than hunting.
Also known as
Recordings (4)
About this species
The Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is a ground-dwelling gamebird of around 90 cm — the cock turkey-sized and slate-dark, fanning a broad black tail in display. It needs extensive old conifer forest with a rich ground layer of bilberry.
The cock's strange song builds through clicks to a sound like a cork popping from a bottle. In winter it subsists largely on pine and spruce needles, switching to berries and shoots in summer. Males gather at dawn leks to display with fanned tails and bizarre, far-carrying song. A cornerstone of the traditional walked-up and driven shooting season, it remains one of the most sought-after gamebirds of the European countryside.
Legal use
Capercaillie is now fully protected and cannot legally be hunted in the UK, where the Scottish population has collapsed to critically low numbers and the species is Red-listed and safeguarded under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (it has not been legally hunted in Scotland or Germany for over 30 years). Regulated hunting still exists in parts of Scandinavia and Russia, where populations are much larger — Finland in particular sees a substantial annual harvest under regional bag limits, and hunting also continues in Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Many other range states, however, have curtailed or ended seasons as populations decline. Given how restricted and locally variable this has become, treat this recording as being for identification and lek-observation purposes only unless you have separately confirmed an active, legal season, and see our full country-by-country disclaimer.