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The black-billed capercaillie (''Tetrao urogalloides''), also known as eastern capercaillie, Siberian capercaillie, spotted capercaillie or (in Russian) stone capercaillie, is a large
grouse Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes, in the family Phasianidae. Grouse are presently assigned to the tribe Tetraonini (formerly the subfamily Tetraoninae and the family Tetraonidae), a classification supported by mitochondri ...
species closely related to the more widespread
western capercaillie The western capercaillie (''Tetrao urogallus''), also known as the Eurasian capercaillie, wood grouse, heather cock, cock-of-the-woods, or simply capercaillie , is a heavy member of the grouse family and the largest of all extant grouse species. ...
. It is a sedentary species which breeds in the
larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...
taiga forests of eastern
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...
as well as parts of northern
Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...
and
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. In the far west of its distribution, the black-billed capercaillie has been known to hybridize with the western capercaillie. Compared to its western cousin, the Siberian capercaillie is also more adaptable to open habitat, given the larch forests it lives in are usually less dense than other taiga communities. Thus, they tend to avoid thick coniferous forests.


Description

A male black-billed capercaillie has an average length of about and weighs , with females measuring around and weighing . Their wingspan stretches approximately long. Compared to the western capercaillie, it is slightly smaller in size with a slimmer body profile and longer neck, has a black beak (hence its name) instead of being horn-colored, and a longer, more spatulate tail. The eastern capercaillie has a somewhat glossy bluish-black head & neck down to a metallic turquoise breast. Distinct white markings at the tips of its upper and undertail coverts, as well as the wing coverts and flanks, give this grouse the nickname 'spotted capercaillie'. The female is similar to that of its western counterpart, except that its plumage is grayer overall with more heavily scaled underparts, lacks a solid
rufous Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish- brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a ...
chest unlike the wood grouse, and has noticeably larger white spots on its wing and tail coverts.


Behavior

From the crack of dawn until late morning, male capercaillies in the spring display by fanning out their tails, puffing their chest feathers out, lowering their wings, and angling their heads upward with an open beak to defend their space from other males and win over the mating rights of females. The size of the males' territories were usually , similar to
black grouse The black grouse (''Lyrurus tetrix''), also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large game bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in moorland and step ...
territories, based on a research project by the
University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
. A group of hens will carefully squat with drooping wings while the lekking male is present to signal that they're ready for breeding. Their castanets-like call can be heard up to away, much louder than the western capercaillie. It consists of a series of loud repeating clicks ascending in tempo. Other performances used to attract females involve flutter flights. They jump off the ground (> high, far have been recorded) and rapidly beat their wings during takeoff and landing, generating a thundering flurry that resonates through the dense stands of conifers.


Subspecies

The University of Nebraska conducted a study on the morphological and regional differences of 3 identified subspecies, with leg feathers becoming thicker further north of this species's range as an adaptation to the harsher climate. The research team also noted that females of the southern or Mongolian subspecies (''T. u. stegmanni'') were more brown in color than those of the nominate subspecies: * ''T. urogalloides stegmanni'' - the
mountain ranges of Mongolia A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...
south of the
boreal forest Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spru ...
* ''T. urogalloides kamtschaticus'' - the
Kamchatka peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...
* ''T. urogalloides urogalloides'' (nominate) - much of the eastern Siberian taiga and tundra northeast to Chukotka


References

black-billed capercaillie The black-billed capercaillie (''Tetrao urogalloides''), also known as eastern capercaillie, Siberian capercaillie, spotted capercaillie or (in Russian) stone capercaillie, is a large grouse species closely related to the more widespread western ...
Birds of North Asia
black-billed capercaillie The black-billed capercaillie (''Tetrao urogalloides''), also known as eastern capercaillie, Siberian capercaillie, spotted capercaillie or (in Russian) stone capercaillie, is a large grouse species closely related to the more widespread western ...
black-billed capercaillie The black-billed capercaillie (''Tetrao urogalloides''), also known as eastern capercaillie, Siberian capercaillie, spotted capercaillie or (in Russian) stone capercaillie, is a large grouse species closely related to the more widespread western ...
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