Seriously Sage-Grouse: Helping People Help the Land, Natural Resources Consrvation Conservation Service

8/3/2019 Seriously Sage-Grouse: Helping People Help the Land, Natural Resources Consrvation Conservation Service

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United StatesDepartment ofAgriculture

NaturalResourcesConservationService

Farm ServiceAgency

April 2011

SeriouslySage-Grouse

Helping People Help the Land



How Science Heard About Sage-Grouse

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Seriously Sage-Grouse

Meriwether Lewis first observed sage-grouse at the mouth of the Marias River on June 6,

1805. The bird was new to science then and plentiful throughout the western part of what is

now the United States. Journals from the Lewis and Clark expedition record sage-grouse

encounters from the mouth of the Marias River, up the Missouri River to Camp Fortunate,

along the trail to Lemhi Pass, along the Salmon River, down the Clearwater River, then to theconfluence of the Walla Walla River with the Columbia. Since its first recorded sighting more

than 200 years ago, the sage-grouse has experienced a large decline in population.

OREGON

MONTANA

WASHINGTON

IDAHO

N

Lemhi Pass

Camp Fortunate

Mi s s o u

r i R

.

Find the way through this maze and you will see the route Lewis and Clark took from the mouth of the Marias River in Montana to the Pacific Coast in Oregon. Hint: sage-grouse are pictured on

the map at the places where the explorers recorded sightings.

W a l l a

W a l l a

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Columbia R

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air sack

eye comb

ruff

belly

sagebrush leaves

throat

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Sage-grouse eat sagebrush leaves, forbs

(wildflowers) and insects. It’s the only animal

that, in winter, can live on a 100 percent

sagebrush diet. Chicks must have a high

quality insect diet for the first several

weeks after hatching.

The greater sage-grouse is a large,

round-winged, ground-dwelling bird.

It can grow up to 30 inches long and

two feet tall, weighing from 2 1/2 to 7

pounds. It has a long, pointed tail

with legs feathered to the base of

the toes.

How big do they grow? What do they eat?

What Do They Look Like?Females are mottled brown, black, and white. Males are larger and, in spring, they have a large white ruff

around their necks, a yellow eye comb, and bright yellow air sacks on their breasts, which they inflate to

show off to females. Males have a black throat. The feathers on the

back, wings, and tail are mostly brown, with some white and black

spots. Both sexes have black bellies outlined with white.

This male sage-grouse is showing off to a female. Color him in so he looks the way

he is described above.



Colorado

Nebraska

NorthDakota

SouthDakota

Montana

Saskatchewan

AlbertaBritishColumbia

IdahoWyoming

Nevada

California

Arizona NewMexico

Kansas

Oklahoma

Texas

Utah

Oregon

Washington

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Where Do They Live?

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Sage-grouse live in Montana and 10 other Western states (California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, North

Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). They also live in the Canadian

provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

About 40 percent of sage-grouse habitat is privately

owned, mostly by ranchers. The other 60 percent is

mostly public land.

Who owns the land where they live?

The birds prefer to live at

elevations ranging from

4,000 to 9,000 feet and depend on

sagebrush for food and cover. In Montana

alone, there are about 27 million acres of

sagebrush steppe capable of providing habitat for sage-grouse.

Why do they

live where they live?

Connect the dots to show the boundaries of where

sage-grouse live today. The gray area on the map shows

the boundaries of where they lived in the past.



What is a lek?

How does an egg hatch?

Crossword puzzle

Page 5


One of the most unique characteristics of the greater sage-grouse is the ritual used for mating. A lek is a

gathering of males for the purpose of competitive display (strutting) and mating. Males commonly roost

overnight near the lek, and before sunrise, will move to the lek and display. This will continue for a couple

of hours following sunrise, March through May.

The chick inside the egg chips

its way through the eggshell

with an egg tooth, a temporary

tip on its bill that helps the

chick break the shell. The chick

hatches after one to two days

of pecking circular fractures

around the large end of the

egg, finally breaking through it.

ACROSS

3. Female sage-grouse (pl.)

4. Where eggs stay before they hatch

8. An animal that eats another animal

9. Land divided into lots for real estate

10. Baby sage-grouse (pl.)

11. A place where an animal lives

DOWN

1. Evergreen tree or shrub

2. The color of the air sacks on amale sage-grouse

5. Animals living in the wild

6. When a cow or other animaleats grass for food

7. Provides food and cover forsage-grouse

How Do Sage-Grouse Have Babies?

Sage-grouse reproduce by laying eggs. Female

sage-grouse (hens) lay two eggs in three days. One nest

can have seven to nine eggs in it. Chicks inside the eggs

grow (or incubate) for 28 days before they hatch.

If a hen has eight eggs in her nest, how many

days did it take her to

lay those eight eggs?

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5 6

8



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A predator is an animal that eats another animal. Predators of sage-grouse can be either other birds or

animals that hunt on the ground.

Other bird predators: black-billed magpie, common raven, Golden eagle, Northern harrier, and prairie

falcon. Ground predators: badger, bobcat, bull snake, coyote, raccoon, red fox, skunk, and weasel.

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Find and circle the names of

these predators of sage-grouse

in the word puzzle.

Who Are the Predators of Sage-Grouse?

RACCOON

GOLDEN EAGLE SKUNK

WEASEL

BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE

COMMON RAVEN

NORTHERN HARRIER

RED FOX

BADGER BULL SNAKE

COYOTE

PRAIRIE FALCON

BOBCAT



Why Are There Fewer Sage-Grouse Now?

Draw a line from the word to its definition.

All the individuals of one species in a given area

To be broken apart

A place in which an animal or plant normally lives or grows

To move beyond an established limit

An animal that lives by capturing and eating other animals

To break land out of grass to plant to a crop

The act of spreading into or over

Cannot be supported or maintained

Evergreen tree or shrub

A planned method of animals eating grasses and other plants

that keeps the plants healthy

Of foreign origin; not native; introduced from another place

A plant having silvery, wedge-shaped leaves, common in the

western United States

A portion of land divided into lots for real-estate development

Fragmentation

Sagebrush

Habitat

Population

Predator

Exotic

Invasion

Unsustainable

Grazing system

Sodbusting

Subdivision

Conifer

Encroachment

Fragmentation (breaking a large area up into several unconnected areas) of sagebrush habitats from a

number of sources is the main cause of the decline in sage-grouse populations. Other reasons include

exotic species invasion, unsustainable grazing systems, sodbusting, subdivision, and conifer encroachment.

What do these words mean?

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D2 B7 B7 D3 B4 A6 B2 D6C4

B2 C7 B5 C3 B7 D4D4 A5 C3 C4 B4 C3 B6 D2 D1 C4 C1

B7 C4 B1 C3 B1 B6 B2 A4 B7 C3D4 A5 C3

C I Y T P L VD

N R E A Q X FC

G O K M W R SB

J D Q U H B ZA

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Break the code



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What’s good for cows is generally good for sage-grouse, too. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS) works with ranchers to develop grazing systems that are good for their land, their cows or

sheep, and the sage-grouse. Ranchers often use the following practices that are good for the land and

good for the sage-grouse:

Grazing systems that allow cattle and sheep to be moved from pasture to pasture

to keep grass high enough to hide sage-grouse nests.

Markers placed on fences so sage-grouse see the fences and don’t fly into them.

Escape ramps placed in stock water tanks for sage-grouse and other wildlife to

use if they get into a stock water tank by accident.

Weed removal to improve native grass cover.

How Can We Help?

04/11/MT USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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Documents

Seriously Sage-Grouse: Helping People Help the Land, Natural Resources Consrvation Conservation Service