Obvers depicts a male Capercaillie, a wild European woodland grouse, in full courting pose. Its tail feathers are fanned out, its wings somewhat drooped to the ground, and its head and beak pointed skywards, singing out the bird’s distinctive mating call. The bird is situated amidst an array of pine boughs, pine cones, and a tree stump. These features represent the bird’s natural habitat. Ornamental scrolls wrap around the coin’s right and right-bottom area, adjacent to the rim. Wrapping around the top of the design is the legend REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH and the date 2015. The denomination, “100 EURO” is indicated to the left of the grouse.

 Reverse The coin’s reverse depicts both a male and female Capercaillie sitting on the branch of a pine tree. The birds are rendered to scale, and the male bird, which is usually double the size of the female, dwarfs over her. A rugged natural setting fills in the background, along with the detailed bark of a pine tree. At the base of the coin is a pine cone and pine boughs. Text is absent.