Rackelwild Bremen

Rackelwild is the natural hybrid between western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), and is regarded as the most frequently observed grouse hybrid under natural conditions. Because of the considerable difference in body size, the cross practically always arises from a male black grouse and a female capercaillie, the reverse pairing of a male capercaillie with a female black grouse has not been confirmed in the wild.

The Rackelhahn is intermediate between its parents, with a body length of roughly 65 to 75 centimetres. Head, throat, breast and parts of the upper back show a metallic copper red to red-violet sheen on a black ground, the secondaries carry a pale wing bar and a white tip fringe, and white feathering appears on the under-tail coverts and the bend of the wing. The tail recalls the rounded fan of the capercaillie but with a hint of the outward curve typical of black grouse. Hens are far more cryptic and are difficult to identify reliably in the field.

The Rackelhahn is best known from the spring lek. Hybrid cocks usually appear on traditional black grouse leks, where they behave very dominantly and can drive off or even injure the resident black grouse cocks. This disturbance of the black grouse lek, together with the striking appearance, gave the Rackelhahn the reputation of an unusual trophy in earlier hunting tradition. Today Rackelwild is very rare, hybrids are only of limited fertility and Rackelhennen typically lay unfertilised clutches. In Germany Rackelwild is listed as feathered game under federal hunting law but carries a year-round closed season, just like capercaillie and black grouse. The legal status therefore translates into a duty to protect and manage habitat, securing undisturbed transition zones at the tree line and in open mountain forest where both parent species still occur side by side.