The capercaillie 2015 | 100 euro | gold coin

Wildlife series

The capercaillie: of striking and distinctive beauty. - 16 grams of pure gold; the highest minting quality and an extremely charming portrait of a very special forest dweller, accurate in every detail. Our coin: as attractive as the capercaillie itself.

Austria is one of the last countries where the capercaillie is rare, but still occurs in large numbers.

The capercaillies with their broad feathers, bright red patches over their eyes and metallic green iridescent breast have little in common with capercaillies on the outside. The men's plumage and behavior serve only one purpose: to make an impression on the ladies! And that is more important today than ever. Here too, the capercaillie population is breaking up into ever smaller, isolated groups. Capercaillie are typical forest birds. However, although the forest area in our country is increasing every year, the habitat is dwindling. This is because our forests are becoming ever denser. Capercaillie, however, are large birds that need space to fly and love sparse, old forests with lots of ground vegetation.

Text courtesy of the Austrian Mint.