The Greater Prairie Chicken is a medium sized grouse with a short dark rounded tail and feathered toes. The back of the bird is brown, the under portion is buff white and both sides are striped with dark brown. A tuft of stiff elongated feathers are on both the sides of the neck. These feathers are more exaggerated in males and are located just above orange air sacs which are used in mating rituals.

Prairie Chickens are often confused with Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus). Both birds differ in a couple of ways. The Greater Prairie has a barred plumage and a short dark round tail. The Sharp-tailed Grouse has a "V" pattern on its under side with a lighter pointed tail.

Status:

The Greater Prairie Chicken was listed as endangered in Canada in 1978 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). In 1990, the bird was listed as extirpated.

The Greater Prairie Chicken began to move into Canada from North Dakota and Minnesota in the late 1870's to 1880's. The removal of large plains bison (Bison bison) along with higher than normal precipitation in those years produced taller grasses on the Canadian Prairies. This improved both the quantity and quality of a suitable habitat in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Southern Ontario. The species thrived with small scale farming activities and by the early 1900's an estimated one million or more were breeding on the prairies.

Small scale farming operations became larger and slowly turned native prairies into cultivated crops and cattle pasture. The potential range for the Greater Prairie Chicken began to disappear and their numbers declined. By 1940, they were mostly absent from the Canadian prairies. Between 1965 and 1977, there were only 15 sightings of the bird in Saskatchewan.

Currently, distribution of the Greater Prairie Chicken in the United States is fragmented and only a fraction of its original range. The largest populations are located in Kansas, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Range Map

Habitat:

Greater Prairie Chickens prefer native grassland consisting of mixed-grass and tall-grass prairie. Ideal habitats are made up of 60 to 80 per cent grasslands with patches of brush and grain lands throughout.

The main factor affecting the survival of the Greater Prairie Chicken appears to be the lack of large ungrazed blocks of native prairie grassland. Small fragmented habitats produce small isolated populations. Such populations are at risk of extinction due to events such as drastic changes in climate, predation or disease. These populations are unable to breed with other populations and the smaller groups are forced to inbreed. Inbreeding decreases the amount of genetic variation (the gene pool). With less genetic variability, the population can become less immune to disease, have a shorter life span or a decreased ability to reproduce.

Another factor affecting the Prairie Chicken is competition with the native Sharp-tailed Grouse. Sharp-tailed Grouse inhabit virtually all habitats that support Prairie Chickens. Sharp-tailed Grouse have a wider habitat tolerance and will out compete Greater Prairie Chickens on suitable habitat. As well, Greater Prairie Chickens are known to mate with Sharp-tailed Grouse so the remaining populations are in danger of cross breeding.

Recovery Efforts:

A Greater Prairie Chicken recovery team was established in 1993 to determine the possibility of recovering the species in Canada. Thorough review determined that the limiting factors were too great to attempt to recover the population.

The team identified that there was not a suitable release site for the bird. Any site that may have been considered would require substantial enhancement and further management to maintain winter food supplies. They also recognized that any suitable habitat was already occupied by Sharp-tailed Grouse, making it very difficult for the Greater Prairie Chicken to establish itself.

The recovery team concluded that it would be far too costly and the chance of successfully establishing and maintaining a population of Greater Prairie Chickens are too low to attempt any further recovery.

Please contact your local library or visit the Internet sites below for more information on the Greater Prairie Chicken.

Environment Canada. 1999. Greater prairie chicken: recovery plan executive summary. [Online] http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/es/prachi_e.html

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. 1996. Integrated Management of the greater prairie chicken and livestock on the sheyenne national grassland. [Online] http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrodata/sheyenne/sheyenne.htm

Recovery of Nationally Endangered Wildlife. 1993. National recovery plan for the greater prairie-chicken. Canadian Wildlife Federation, Ottawa, Ontario.