I understand that there were/are Capercaille in Spain?

Does anyone know how they have faired since being given legal protection?

Yes, especially in thr Northern Cantabrian mountains.

Since protection they became close to extinction. Due to the environmentalist's pressure, predator hunting and trapping has become strictly regulated, martens and badger are now completely protected and especially the former, abundant for this reason. Hunters don't care anymore to shoot foxes because they can't hunt the capercaillie anyway.

The very same situation here: No more hunting in Germany and thus, extinct in most areas. Still hunted in Austria with stable populations.

The RSPB have resorted to killing crows to try and protect our dwindling stocks of Capercaillie.

One wonders what else they have resorted too?

quote:

In general, we know from this work that capercaillie breed best in semi-natural pinewoods or sympathetically managed Scots Pine plantations with a rich blaeberry field layer where legal crow control is practiced and deer populations are maintained at low levels without recourse to deer fences.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/communi...or-capercaillie.aspx

Has anyone studied the 2 Iberian Capercaillie species in a similar manner?

quote:

Originally posted by DUK:
Yes, especially in thr Northern Cantabrian mountains.

Since protection they became close to extinction. Due to the environmentalist's pressure, predator hunting and trapping has become strictly regulated, martens and badger are now completely protected and especially the former, abundant for this reason. Hunters don't care anymore to shoot foxes because they can't hunt the capercaillie anyway.

Could it be linked to the decline of Scots Pines rather than lack of preditor control?

quote:

A team of researchers from the Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (UPM) has re-constructed the landscape of the Cantabrian Mountains to interpret the current situation of the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) woodlands and their implication in the survival of the Cantabrian capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus cantabricus), a bird now in danger of becoming extinct.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.../11/081121151920.htm

Usually many parameters influence on the populations of vulnerable species. It might as well be that both, a changing food base as well as higher predation pressure are responsible.

One thing is for sure, predators are much less and much less brutally hunted than in former times and are thus, much more abundand, some mamal predators and all birds of prey are completely protected today and this is very seriously enforced.

I don't think that only a varying population in one single food source would have such a big impact. Of course, the ecologist always prefer to blame anything else but predation when a threatened species starts to dissappear.

Here in Germany and very close to where we live, we had huntable capercillie populations until the 1970s, too. Then, besides changing forestry practices without clearcutting, the shooting of birds of prey was outlawed and the huge vaccination campaigns of foxes started with the result that today fox populations are estimated 3 to 10 times higher than during the past when they were still hunted intensively for their valuable furs and every 5 years or so suffered a terrible rabies epidemy which killed most of them, thus reducing thoroughly predation also on vulnerable species.

DUK

I believe what yuo say to have a great deal of truth hidden in it.
Habitat loss and increased predation are without a doubt the two most detrimental factors. The fact that the ecologists won't admit publically to this is a long standing problem.

We have the same problem with badgers and buzzards. But the RSPB and the AR loonies will never come out and admit it.