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Working to Protect the Capercaillie
New efforts to save an iconic Scottish bird
© David Palmer
The native pinewood forests of the Scottish Highlands are home to many species, but among the most striking is the Western Capercaillie – the largest living grouse species. Their future in the highland forests is under threat. But a conservation task force headed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and backed by landowners and the government is striving to reverse their decline.
BirdNote®
Working to Protect the Capercaillie
Written by Clare Mansell
This is BirdNote.
[Scottish Highlands soundscape]
The native pinewood forests of the Scottish Highlands are home to many endangered species, but among the most striking is the Western Capercaillie [cap-ur-KAY-lee].
These ground-nesting birds are the largest living grouse species. Males can weigh seven pounds and have a plumage of dark gray and brown with shimmering green breast feathers. The smaller females have brown and black feathers barred with silver.
[Western Capercaillie calls]
In 1785, the native Scottish capercaillie population went extinct, but was successfully reintroduced with birds from Sweden in the 1800s. Now, their future in the highland forests is again under threat.
Predators like foxes, crows and pine martens raid their nests, while humans encroach on their dwindling habitat.
Increasingly wet and cold early summers have led to high chick mortality. And deer fencing often kills or injures the birds. The last survey revealed their numbers are down to just 542 from around 20,000 in the 1970s.
But a conservation task force headed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and backed by landowners and the government is striving to reverse the decline. They’re making deer fencing more visible, introducing alternative food sources for predators and rerouting recreational trails away from grouse habitat.
Saving the capercaillie won’t be easy, but this iconic bird won’t be lost again without a fight.
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Western Capercaillie ML42752 recorded by Gregory Budney.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote May 2023
Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# WESCAP-01-2023-05-11 WESCAP-01
