Saturday 29 January 2011

A big surprise

A big surprise today whilst driving into Maridalen for some family skiing (cross country). I spotted a large bird flying towards us at a height of about 100m. Seeing a large bird in flight is a rare enought sight at the moment and this one looked dark and at distance resembled a Cormorant. As we drove closer I saw it had white as well as black plumage and then as we drove underneath it it became clear it was an adult male Capercaille. Quite what is was doing flying over fields in the middle of the day I'm not sure but as I followed it out of the side window (whilst also driving and being asked to keep my eyes on the road) I then noticed there was a Goshawk flying not far behind it. Was the Goshawk hunting the Caper and the Caper fleeing for its life? I assumed that to be unlikely as a Goshawk is surely not large enough to take a Caper but according to BWP Capercailles do feature in the prey items of Goshawk so maybe it was chasing it or perhaps just having a bit of fun!

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