2017

LVM Forest Bird Expert Explains Behaviour of Wood Grouses in Spring

As the spring is approaching, wood grouses, also known as capercaillies, just like other birds are getting more active. Often they can be seen walking confidently not only in forests, but also along roads, ditches and in the vicinity of other inhabited areas. LVM Forest Bird Expert Elmārs Pēterhofs explains why wood grouses become so brave and why they can be met outside the forest so often.

Wood grouses gather together in areas of 100 and 200 hectares for mating purposes. If a mating area is located near a road, wood grouses may be seen there more frequently than in other seasons. "The activity of wood grouses is related not only to the approaching mating season, but also to the need to find places where there is gravel; it is interesting that wood grouses need gravel to facilitate the feed processing process," says bird researcher Elmārs Pēterhofs.

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In winter and spring, wood grouses basically feed on pine needles, and to digest them wood grouses need tiny stones, which once in the stomach, just like a mill grind the relatively solid feed. Therefore in winter and spring, wood grouses may often be spotted near roads where they pick up tiny stones.

"Wood grouses are basically not afraid of cars, as long as cars do not stop. Also in the forest, wood grouses can feel relatively safe, and they allow people to come quite close. These birds are massive and reluctant to fly; instead, they watch us from their ambush. Therefore in winter, autumn and spring we can see them quite often; they take off only when it is critically necessary, usually from a very close distance," the expert explains.

In summer, in turn, when wood grouses spend a significant part of their life on the ground, they may be spotted less frequently, because they run away quickly, unnoticed. "There are cases where during the mating season the behaviour of some wood grouse cocks becomes inadequate, and they can become aggressive, even towards people. Such behaviour has various explanations, but they lack reliable scientific evidence. Such cases happen rarely and approximately just as often as a hundred years ago," Elmārs Pēterhofs says

No logging in mating places

More than 90% of Latvian wood grouse habitats are located in forest areas managed by LVM, and in all of the common wood grouse mating grounds wood grouse protection is ensured in accordance with the guidelines developed by LVM. For more than four years, LVM has been managing forests in accordance with the specifically targeted guidelines. They foresee maximum protection of wood grouses both prior and during the mating season, as well as application of habitat management techniques that maintain or improve their quality in accordance with the requirements for the specific species.

Supported by JSC "Latvia's State Forests", the Latvian State Forest Research Institute "Silava" is conducting a survey, which aims to identify environmental factors that are important for wood grouse protection. In Latvia, wood grouse habitats may more often be found in swampy forests, and considerably less frequently in old and natural coniferous forests, or in bogs. To find out how predators affect the behaviour of wood grouses, researchers collect excrements of forest martens, which are the largest natural enemies of wood grouses, and explore any plumes or bone fragments that are to be found in the excrements. It will allow identifying the proportion of wood grouses in the predators' nutrition. In turn, in order to determine the impact of logging works, as well as of the presence of mushroom and berry pickers on wood grouses, it is planned to equip birds with transmitters. The study is scheduled to be completed by the year 2019.