A lek of the capercaillie Tetrao urogallus near suburban settlement Komarovo on the Karelian isthmus

A capercaillie's lek was found near Komarovo village in Kurortny District of St.-Petersburg in spring of 1993. It is situated as far as 550 m from the nearest summer cottage in a small section of a mixed forest with prevailing pines. Regular observations performed by the author since the discovery of the lek and till nowadays demonstrate that capercaillies regularly use this place for feeding on pine needles in winter and for courtship activity in spring. Females of this species visit this place not only for mating, but also for feeding on tubers, rhizomes, green leaves and wintering flower buds of the cotton grass Eriophorum vaginatum, nutrients of high energetic value so necessary for hens during egg production. During every spring season, this lek ground was, as a rule, visited by one, or, less frequently, by two males and two or three females. The maximal courtship activity usually coincides with the end of snow melting occurring between April 15 and May 5 in different years. The existence of such unusual capercaillie's lek is possible because of the presence of solid forest cover of this region and the diversity of forest types, including pine, spruce, or mixed forests with various combinations of conifer and deciduous trees and with small bogs. This diversity of forest habitats gives a possibility for capercaillies to change these habitats rapidly in dependence of the situation. The same circumstance helps females to find suitable nesting places and males, to molt being undisturbed. The complete game prohibition in this region during last 20 years was, of course, the most effective action preventing disappearance of capercaillies from this area.