Spring Floods and Capercaillie Lekking

In this week’s edition:

Getting ready for the ‘fifth season’

Early spring birdwatching – Steller’s Eider, forest lekking, woodpeckers and owls

Capercaillie and spring lekking

GETTING READY FOR THE FIFTH SEASON

As spring gets ever closer and this years thick snow cover starts to steadily melt, people living in and around the National Park in south eastern Estonia known as Soomaa (lit. land of mires) are preparing for a different season. This is known locally as the ‘fifth season’, and is the time when many of the local rivers flood the land with melt-water, as it arrives from the surrounding uplands.

This has been the pattern of life for a long time here and local communities are well adapted to the sudden influx of water into their homes and buildings and the limited accessibility in many parts of the area. Homes and barns typically have a second story so that both people and livestock can sit comfortably above the flood levels.

Life of course, still goes on in times of flood and dugout canoes made from the trunk of a single aspen or linden tree were used for centuries as the main means of transport during the fifth season. They allowed people to visit friends and relatives, or perhaps deliver milk to the market and visit the local store. These are known in Estonia as a haabjas and have probably been used by Finno-ugric peoples since the stone age.

One-Log Dugout of SOOMAA

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Although most people now use kayaks and other boats during the flood, the art and craft of building haabjas is being continued at Soomaa. Courses are available in warmer months where you can learn the ancient art of building your own single log canoe. To experience the fascinating fifth season yourself by kayak or haabjas, or to learn the art of building your own haabjas, please contact local tour specialists Soomaa.com

EARLY SPRING BIRDWATCHING TOURS

Early spring is an excellent time to visit Estonia for birdwatching and two local expert companies NaTourEst and Estonian Nature Tours can help you to get the most out of an early spring trip.

NaTourEst, wildlife tour specialists, suggest that although the peak of bird species in Estonia occurs in late spring, if you wait until May you will miss the opportunity to experience the lekking of Black Grouse and Western Capercaillie and seeing the beautiful Steller’s Eider before it leaves its Estonian wintering grounds. Owls and woodpeckers are also more easy to find in April so NaTourEst recommends that April is also a very special time to visit. For more information on organised or self-guided birding trips, please contact Triin at NaTourEst.

Steller’s Eider (Polysticta stelleri)

Estonian Nature Tours also specialise in organising wildlife, botanical and study tours in Estonia and although a number of their early spring birdwatching trips are already booked out for this year, there is still room available for some of their trips in March and April. You can find a description of their early spring tour here. For more information about these trips, please contact Marika at Estonian Nature Tours

WILD FOCUS: WESTERN CAPERCAILLIE

The male Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is a large and unmistakable bird in the forests of Estonia, particularly during the mating season. In fact, the name Capercaillie comes from the Gaelic name capull coille, which means ’horse of the forest’. The species range extends across Europe and Asia, with different subspecies occupying different parts of this range. Unfortunately though, the Western Capercaillie is extinct or in decline in many parts of Western Europe.

Capercaillie in Estonia in Alutaguse

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Capercaillies require a variety of particular resources to thrive, and do best in old or open canopy conifer forests with dense ground cover and a good supply of Vaccinium spp. such as blueberry. Older or unmanaged forest typically provide low horizontal branches for roosting, while dense groundcover provides shelter, particularly during nesting. An open canopy is required as Capercaillie are not swift flyers and require room to manouvre when flying. Although they feed constantly on conifer needles over winter, their main source of food in summer is the leaves and berries of Vaccinium spp.

Blueberries

Male Capercaillie are famous for ’lekking’ which is the period of vigorous and competitive courtship displays between neighbouring males. They are most common in early spring and each year the males congregate in courtship areas which are known as ’leks’ (singular – ’lek’). Typical lekking behaviour includes the dramatic fanning out of the tail feathers, holding the neck erect with the beak pointing skywards and holding the wings outstretched and low to the ground. These displays begin at dawn and may also include sparring between males and songs of tapping, drum rolls, cork pops and gurgling or wheezing. Males compete in this way to become the alpha male which typically grants them the privelege of mating with all the females who have been attracted to the lek.

Black Grouse Lek

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As there are still large areas of old, protected or unmanaged forest in Estonia, Western Capercaillie is fairly widespread. Although each individual maintains a territory of around 40-60 hectares, this reduces to around 25 hectares in spring, making it the best time see Capercaillie. Other members of the Grouse family such as the Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix) also form leks in early spring and wader species such as Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) and Great Snipe (Gallinago media) may also be seen lekking in Estonian during spring.