Fred Začek's Image

Fred had never seen a wild capercaillie, so when his father discovered a male bird in a reserve close to their home he begged to see it. As they approached, it leapt onto a fallen tree, fanned out its tail, thrust its head into the air, then let out an extraordinary noise that, as Fred recalls, ‘sounded like a gun being loaded and then fired’.

Capercaillies perform an aggressive mating display to attract females but also to defend territories from other males. Usually groups of males gather to display against each other, known as lekking, but this one may have wandered away in search of females elsewhere. It had evidently redirected its competitive display towards Fred and his father.