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Project Noah Nature School
Tetrao urogallus
Very large Grouse (weighing up to 7kg or about 16lbs). Male (pictured) is mostly black, blue/black with white shoulder patch and black/brown wings, with white scaling around lower breast vent and around the tail. Bill is straw yellow. When displaying the male fans his tail up, drops his wings and stretches his neck and head up extending short feathers on the upper throat.
This displaying male was found east of Kuusamo in mixed woodland in Northern Finland about 20km west of the Russian border.
This species is the largest grouse. The males are extremely aggressive when lekking. There are several well documented instances of this bird attacking humans that venture to close.
Spotted on Jun 1, 2018
Submitted on Jun 11, 2018
15 Comments
Thanks Rach. This guy was a real bucket lister for me.
Congratulations, another awesome set of photos
I am so stoked that this guy got SOTW. Thank you PN rangers. They are a hard bird to find. This was my third attempt over a number of years. Thank you also to Mark, Neil, Antonio and Zlatan for your kind words.
Great spotting! Congrats!
Brilliant spotting, Rob, and lovely clear photos, as always. Congrats on your SOTW.
Another great series Rob,beautiul ,congrats on the well deserved SOTW and thanks for sharing
Congrats again Rob. Great natural looking shots in that vegetation.
Congratulations Rob, after another tight round your capercaillie has been voted Spotted of the Week! A great series of images of a bird hard to photograph and your personal notes won you the vote. Also, all your images show the bird nicely in its environment, fitting with the special topic for our 2018 Best Wildlife photo contest.
"With raised and fanned tail feathers, stretched neck and beak pointed upwards, a male capercaillie is photographed in full display in our Spotting of the Week! The capercaillie is the largest member of the grouse subfamily, and is found across Eurasia. This forest, ground-dwelling bird best known for its mating display is under threat in several European countries, mainly due to habitat degradation".
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Yes you are quite correct Mark. It should have read 7kgs. This being the weight of the largest grouse on record. Apologies for any confusion. Rob.
17 lbs not kilos ? ;-)
Thank you Rach and thank you Ashley for the nomination.
Congrats on your nomination for SOTW Robert. He is certainly an awesome looking bird. Great set of images - from a safe distance!!!
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
Thanks Jim. Yes I stood well back for this guy. Heard him coming before I saw him! Beautiful bird but it needs is space :)
I see by the photos that you wisely gave the grouse some room...nice spotting, Robert.