---
title: "Auerhoen"
description: "Tetrao urogallus — Vogels. The western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), also known as the Eurasian capercaillie, wood grouse, heather cock, cock-of-the-woods, or simply capercaillie , is a heavy member of the grouse tribe and the largest of all extant grouse species."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/western-capercaillie
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Auerhoen

> Tetrao urogallus — Vogels. The western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), also known as the Eurasian capercaillie, wood grouse, heather cock, cock-of-the-woods, or simply capercaillie , is a heavy member of the grouse tribe and the largest of all extant grouse species.

- Scientific name: *Tetrao urogallus*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `forest` (Bos)
- iNaturalist observations: 4795
- Wikidata: [Q129059](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q129059)
- iNaturalist taxon: [1026](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1026)

## Names

- en: Western Capercaillie
- de: Auerhuhn
- es: Urogallo Común
- fr: Grand Tétras
- nl: Auerhoen
- pt: Tetraz-grande
- pl: Głuszec

## Countries with the most observations

RU (1881), FI (582), SE (313), IT (161), DE (157), AT (142), NO (120), EE (35), LT (34), ES (32), FR (32), CZ (30)

## Summary

The western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), also known as the Eurasian capercaillie, wood grouse, heather cock, cock-of-the-woods, or simply capercaillie , is a heavy member of the grouse tribe and the largest of all extant grouse species. Found across Europe and the Palearctic, this primarily-ground-dwelling forest grouse is renowned for its courtship display. The bird shows extreme sexual dimorphism, with males nearly twice the size of females. The global population is listed as "least concern" under the IUCN, although the populations of central Europe are declining and fragmented, or possibly extirpated.
The western…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_capercaillie

## Photo

![Auerhoen](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/western-capercaillie/medium.jpg)

Photo: preinzi · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/345244377

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/western-capercaillie?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).