Capercaillie have evolved within the old open forests found in the highlands and along the ridges of mountain areas in temperate Europe as well as in the taiga region from Fennoscandia to Siberia where the boreal forests show this open structure due to the harsh climate, hence offering optimal habitats for Capercaillie without human influence. Dense and young forests are avoided as there is neither cover nor food and flight of these large birds is greatly impaired.
Its name is derived from the Gaelic and means “horse of the woods”.

Vadim painted this watercolor in the forest after he had flushed the cock at the edge of the bog. Capercaillie when startled, explode from the undergrowth, it is a very loud departure. When he is disappearing you hear the of braking of dry twigs as he breaks his way through the trees.