The first goal achieved for this years mission

I have set myself a mission for this year with my Photography.

I want to take photos of the Black Grouse and Western Capercaillie and today I could tick one of those boxes.

I had seen reports from Saturday that a Western Capercaillie was just a couple of kilometer from home in an area of Delsjöns Nature Reserve here in Gothenburg. So I checked the map and decided to head out in morning even if the forecast wasn´t the best.

Just a 10 minutes ride from home and then off into the woods. I hiked for a kilometer or two along a gravel road before I decided to take a trail deeper into the wood. Here I spent almost an hour trying to find it without any luck. So I rechecked the reports from yesterday and understood that I was in the wrong area. Back to the gravel road and then off once more.

Now I hike along a quaking bog and after some time I started to here voices. I suspected that this might be other people looking for the Western Capercaillie. I had guessed correctly, but they where leaving. Still they could give me good directions to the area in which I would find the bird so I could complete the first mission of the year.

300 meters further into the woods and there it was. It sat in a tree overlooking its home turf. I just got one photo before it took off, but soon I discovered it again as it hadn´t flown that far. It had landed on a raised “plateau” and I felt that this probably was its main displaying ground.

Now I started taking picture from a distance working myself closer to the bird.

I stayed for a couple of hours taking too many pictures, need to control myself better. I got some good pictures and I will present some of them here in a Photo Album.

This one is really nice with the reflection of the trees in the birds eye. It was a great feeling to be able to take photos of this handsome brute.