Capercaillie lekking

I have spent the last two nights in a shelter in the forest, trying to see the capercaillie lekking. Capercaillies are large grouse birds, where the cocks fight each other and do a mating display dance; to see this you need to go into the camouflaged shelter at about five in the afternoon and then be absolutely silent from then on until you leave it at about eleven the next morning. Also, the shelter will be very cold, and you have to get up at three in the morning so as to get the getting up out of the way before the birds start. And there's no guarantee that you'll see much.

I paid a guide (who is an acquaintance of mine) to go on one of his tours for this; you can of course do it yourself, but then you need to know a place where they do the lekking and also set up a shelter long in advance so they get used to it. The three other people on this tour were all retired white men with huge camera equipment.

The first morning, I saw a cock strut past the shelter (looking cock-sure). I also heard two cocks fighting some distance away, making impressive thuds--they bang their wings against each other as well as use their beaks. But I didn't see them. Also I heard the mating display sounds (kind of a ticking noise) but only saw glimpses since it was behind a rock spur. I did see the cock leap upwards once though!

The second morning, I heard really well the noises of the cocks coming down from the trees before dawn with a fluttering thud, like they're making their entry into the ring. Also I heard the hens in the trees making a cooing sound. Then nothing, nada, silence. The guide said there was probably a predator nearby and that he thought he'd heard a northern goshawk. Ah well. It was a lovely morning for it otherwise, with frost, a clear sky, and no wind.

I do wish I'd seen more, but obviously they're not performing for my sake! Now to catch up on sleep...