Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus Lek Formation in Young Forest

Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus leks have repeatedly been reported to be located in old forest. However, two conditions may have biased this widely held view. First, leks are known to be continuously used over several decades, and therefore might have been established when forest stands were younger. Second, stand‐replacement logging (clearcutting) was not widely applied until the 1950s, leaving even‐aged regenerating stands too young for leks to have been established in the latter part of the 20th century. Here we report eight cases of lek formation in young plantations from south‐central Norway. Stand age ranged within 26‐46 years when display activity started. At six of the sites, we confirmed that females were regularly feeding on pine trees in winter prior to lek establishment, and at four of these sites displaying males were observed courting the females in late winter. These findings support the hotspot model of lek formation put forward by Gjerde et al. (2000), and it offers promising options for managing capercaillie leks in commercially utilised forests.