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Description: | The calls of a female capercaillie with her chicks are featured in this recording. This is a substantial bird, with males typically weighing up to 4kg making it the largest member of the grouse family. The males are particularly distinctive with a chocolate-grey coloured back and wings, white markings on the tail and wing and a crimson eyebrow. In contrast females are camouflaged in various shades of brown so that they are less likely to be seen by predators whilst incubating their eggs. Male capercaillie are not only interesting in their appearance but also in their mating behaviour, a number of males gather at a site called a lek where they perform a complex display accompanied by a very unusual song. This initially starts with a gurgling sound accelerating to a drum roll followed by a popping sound and then finally a wheezing or gurgling sound to finish off, all of which is usually accompanied by a dance which ends in a ‘flutter jump’. Capercaillie can only be found in Scottish native pinewood and sadly numbers of this remarkable bird have dwindled so rapidly in recent years it may even face extinction. | License: | http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permission.html | Rights holder: | British Library | Subjects: | Woodland Bird Wildlife sounds | Source: | Collect Britain | Creator: | Shove, Lawrence | Identifier: | http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personal... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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