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Species | Eurasian capercaillie

The Eurasian capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) has many names, which include Western capercaillie, heather cock, wood grouse or merely capercaillie. Despite some evidence of population decline, the Eurasian capercaillie continues to be a species of least concern. After all, they have a range of possibly 10 000 000 km² and a population of 2 million individuals in Europe alone.

They’re highly specialised herbivores and feed on a wide variety of foods, including berries, buds, conifer needles and grasses. Chicks are in need of proteins and thus prey mainly on insects, spiders or worms for the first few weeks. 

Although they much prefer the ground as their habitat, Eurasian capercaillies spend much of the winter in trees. There they feed on coniferous needles of spruce, pin and fir as well as buds from beech and rowan. In order to digest a such kind of food, they are in need of grid and therefore they commonly eat stones on purpose.