Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)

Status: Endangered

Description: Sage Grouse, also called Sage Hens or Sage Chickens, are Saskatchewan’s largest grouse. Males and females are greyish in colour with white chests, a black patch on their bellies and buff and black markings on their head, back, wing and tail feathers. Their tails are long and pointed.

Males have a yellow spot above their eyes. During mating season, the males display by inflating two large, yellowy-green throat sacs. These air sacs, or nuchal sacs, are normally hidden by white breast feathers.

Canadian Sage Grouse are heavier than those found further south, probably as a special adaptation to our harsher winter climate. Females (hens) are between 48 to 58 centimeters long and weigh slightly over one kilogram. In comparison, the males (cocks) are heavier, usually between two and three kilograms and between 65 to 75 centimeters long. Sage Grouse lose weight during breeding season due to the high expenditure of energy.

Status: Sage Grouse are listed as an endangered species in Saskatchewan in the Wild Species at Risk Regulations (1999). They are legally protected on private, provincial and federal lands under part V of The Wildlife Act. First listed in 1987 as threatened in Saskatchewan, there was a sharp population decrease of 90 per cent over the next ten years. In 1998, Sage Grouse were listed as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

In 1987 to 1988, the Sage Grouse population in Saskatchewan was estimated to be between 2,000 to 3,000 adult birds. There were 44 active leks or strutting grounds where the male birds gather each spring. By 1997, the adult population had dropped to about 250 birds. In the 1999 spring lek count, the adult Sage Grouse population had increased to an estimated 500 to 600 birds with 12 active leks.

In 1900, approximately 10,000 Sage Grouse used to range from Saskatchewan Landing in the north, to Big Muddy in the east. Today Sage Grouse are only found in the remaining Silver Sagebrush habitat areas near Govenlock, close to the Alberta border, in the Frenchman River Valley and near Wood Mountain. The two eastern locations are mainly the remaining habitat which receive some protection within the borders of Grasslands National Park (GNP).

Throughout North America, Sage Grouse are found in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and California. Sage Grouse are extirpated in British Columbia, Nebraska, New Mexico and Oklahoma. In 1998, the estimated range-wide population was 157,000 birds. Canada’s population of Sage Grouse is about one per cent of the total North American population.

Range Maps: Sage Grouse 1999; Sage Grouse in Saskatchewan, 1900, 1987 and 1997 (adapted from Harris, 1997); and Current and known historic distribution of eastern (E) and western (W) subspecies of Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in North America (adapted from Aldridge, 1998, and Johnsgard, 1983).

Life Cycle: In Saskatchewan, Sage Grouse are on the northern edge of their North American range. They live here year round in the short grass prairie but only in Silver Sagebrush (Artmesia cana) habitat. Dense sagebrush habitat is critical for their fall and winter food supply and for successful breeding in the spring.

Over winter, Sage Grouse eat only the leaves and buds of the sagebrush that show above the snow. In heavy snow years, much of this shorter Canadian Silver Sagebrush may be buried. Sage Grouse prefer the sides of coulees with a south westerly exposure. In these places, the wind blows the deep snow away. The sun helps melt snow, exposing the sagebrush on which the Sage Grouse rely. They must have enough sagebrush to eat during the winter months to have enough energy (body fat) for breeding in the spring. Loss or degradation of this critical winter habitat greatly reduces their chances of survival.

Another way Sage Grouse survive extremely harsh winter weather is to make a snow roost. The birds burrow into the deep snow which is caught around the base of the sagebrush in the heavy snow areas. The bird’s body heat melts a little warm cave in the snow making a snow roost. Inside, the temperature may be up to 23 centigrade degrees warmer than the outside winter air temperature. The snow roost also helps the birds to stay out of sight of predators.

Spring activity usually begins in late February or early March as the males gather at their traditional leks, or strutting grounds. Leks are found in flat, open areas, where the strutting of the male birds is easily seen by the females. Leks are often located near coulees and creek bottoms and are surrounded by sage brush flats where the females will nest.

The males fight to establish territory. The dominant males usually win the largest central area of the lek for their strutting territory. There are usually a few guards for the dominant male, and they have the rest of the central territory. Yearlings and males that are not as healthy are usually pushed to the edges of the strutting grounds.

Lekking activity usually starts one hour before sunrise and again at dusk. The males fan up their tails and hold their wings rigidly by their sides pointing down. They rapidly fill up and let out the air in their nuchal sacs making a popping sound.

The male Sage Grouse will strut at the leks from March to early June. The females arrive later, usually during April to mid May. The hens usually stay at the leks for two to three days while they choose one of the males, then mate. About 90 per cent of the hens mate with the few dominant males. Then, they move out to the nearby sage flats to find a good nesting place.

Sometimes the hens have to go more than four and a half kilometers away from the lek to find a dense patch of Silver Sagebrush at least seven meters wide. The sagebrush has to be thick and tall enough to protect the nest and the eggs from predators like golden eagles, hawks, coyotes, foxes, badgers and raccoons. If they have nested before, they usually return to the same general area. The nest also has to be near water or wet meadows so the chicks will have a place to feed when they hatch.

The hen scoops out a shallow nest on the ground and lines it with grass and sage leaves. She lays between four and 15 olive coloured, brown-speckled eggs that blend in with the surroundings. The usual clutch size (the number of eggs) is about eight. The number of eggs and the health of the chicks is directly related to the quality and quantity of food the hen had during the winter.

It is usually 37 days from the time the first egg is laid until the eggs hatch. The hen will try to scare away predators by running at them while flapping her wings and cackling. As many as 60 per cent of first nests are destroyed. If the eggs in the first nest are broken and eaten, she will mate again and re-nest. There are not as many eggs the second time because of the energy used to lay the first clutch.

Most chicks hatch during the first two weeks of June. Within an hour, they can run around and find their own food. Their chances of survival are better if they can find good quality food. Moist, wet meadows, provide more insects which are a high source of protein. For the first 12 weeks, the chick’s favourite foods are ants, beetles and grasshoppers. They do not have a muscular gizzard, so they also eat soft green plants (succulent forbs). In about 10 weeks, at the end of the summer, the young Sage Grouse are on their own and will soon be eating a diet of sagebrush leaves.

During the fall, the Sage Grouse are totally dependent on dense sagebrush for cover and food. They need to put on weight to survive the winter and to be healthy for breeding the next spring. Survival is only 43 per cent for females, 33 per cent for males and 18 per cent for yearlings. For the Sage Grouse to survive in Saskatchewan, the chicks that are produced each year have to survive the winter to replace the adults that die. Since the population is less than 1000 birds in Saskatchewan, it remains vulnerable to extirpation.

Limiting Factors and Recovery Needs:

There has been considerable effort to research the factors causing the decline in the Sage Grouse population during the decade 1988 to 1998. A detailed analysis of the research and recommendations for recovery actions have been identified by the Sage Grouse Recovery Team in the draft document, Sage Grouse Recovery Strategies, January 2000. The recovery team is composed of members representing the stakeholders including the gas and oil industry, stock growers, wildlife organizations, agricultural producers, provincial and federal government agencies and Parks Canada.

The major factors affecting Sage Grouse include the direct disturbance of the birds and the loss, degradation or fragmentation of critical Silver Sagebrush habitat.

Direct impacts on the birds include harsh weather, predators, development too close to leks and nesting habitat, the training of hunting dogs and people coming too close to leks in spring. Suitable Silver Sagebrush habitat is shrinking due to roads, powerlines, pipelines and oil and gas exploration. Climate changes may also be causing conditions leading to the loss of the Silver Sagebrush plant community.

Harsh weather can affect the Sage Grouse in several parts of their life cycle. If the snow is too deep, such as in the winter of 1996 to 1997, sagebrush will be buried by snow. The birds could not get enough to eat and some starved and others were not healthy enough to breed in the spring. This is thought to be the cause of the low lek count of 250 birds in the spring of 1997.

If there is not enough cover during an extremely harsh winter, some birds may freeze to death. When there is a summer drought, there may not be enough sagebrush for food over the winter. Some birds will starve and others will not have enough fat reserves for breeding. If the spring weather is extremely cold or there is a late spring snow storm, the eggs may freeze.

Predators eat Sage Grouse and their eggs. On the leks, the adult Sage Grouse are likely to be taken by Golden Eagles. Recently built power lines provide perches for eagles and hawks to spot Sage Grouse. If the sagebrush is not tall enough over the nest, they will also attack the hen when she is incubating the eggs. The hen and the chicks are also vulnerable when they are feeding in the open meadows and near creeks.

Racoons and badgers will eat eggs if the nest is not hidden in a large enough clump of sagebrush. Some biologists think that coyotes are hunting more Sage Grouse because of a lack of other easy prey, such as rabbits. Other predators, such as the red fox and the recently re-introduced Swift Fox (Vulpes velox) may also be preying on Sage Grouse.

Another threat to the survival of the Sage Grouse is that more roads are being built across the sagebrush range. Trucks and heavy equipment travel to and from the gas and oil development sites. Farm equipment moves from one field to another. More birds are being hit by vehicles now as they cross the road to get from one part of their habitat to another.

Human noise and activities can scare away the Sage Grouse on the strutting grounds. If the Sage Grouse are disturbed too often, they may abandon the lek and there will be no breeding that year. Disturbances in the last few years include gas and oil exploration, the building of pipelines, power lines and the operation of pumpjacks on producing wells. To protect the Sage Grouse, Saskatchewan Environment restricts development activities within 500 metres of leks between March 15^th and May 15^th. Similarly, development is restricted within 500 metres of nests between April 15^th and June 15^th. For additional information on development restrictions, please contact the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre (SK CDC) at www.biodiversity.sk.ca.

Suggested actions to help the recovery of the Sage Grouse include putting caps on power poles to discourage eagles, burying power lines, gating infrequently used roads and seeding abandoned roads back to native grass. Solar energy could be used to power remote pipeline compressor stations so that power lines do not have to be built.

Ecotourism is another direct disturbance to Sage Grouse. In Grasslands National Park, these endangered birds are protected from gas and oil development and agricultural changes to the native grassland but increasing numbers of ecotourists are visiting the lek sites for birdwatching. Many bird watchers want to add the Sage Grouse to their life list. Tourism has increased by 25 per cent a year and now the park has nearly 7,000 visitors yearly.

At present, the park can only use provincial legislation to restrict ecotourist access to the lek sites. Viewing is restricted to 200 metres of the leks between March 15^th and May 15^th to 200 metres of the nests between April 15^th and June 15^th. It is important that tours leaders co-operate with the park staff to reduce disturbance to the Sage Grouse during the breeding season.

Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation may be the biggest threats to Sage Grouse survival. There is only limited legislation to protect the Silver Sagebrush habitat. A large portion of the Sage Grouse range receives partial protection under The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act. This protects the sagebrush flats from being broken to agricultural use but does not limit disturbances from oil and gas exploration and development.

Sage Grouse can live alongside grazing livestock. Sometimes the needs of livestock and Sage Grouse are in conflict. Where cattle are overstocked on a pasture, they will over graze the grass, the succulent forbs and the tops of the sagebrush. Without cover, the hens and chicks are more vulnerable to predators and may not have enough food. In winter, the birds may not have enough food or cover to survive.

To protect the critical Silver Sagebrush habitat, livestock numbers need to carefully monitored in pastures supporting Sage Grouse. Increased taxation on native pasture in 1997 has created pressure for producers to increase stocking levels. Agricultural and taxation policies which are detrimental to protecting Sage Grouse habitat need to be reviewed.

Recovery Actions:

Actions to date:

• population monitoring 1988, 1994 to present and on-going;
• The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act prevents native grasslands from being broken to tame grass for hay or pasture;
• PFRA (federal) pastures are recognized within the Representative Areas Network and prevents breaking of native grassland;
• Community Pastures which are Provincial Crown Lands are administered by Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food; native grassland cannot be broken where Sage Grouse occur;
• habitat areas in the Frenchman River valley and Kildeer Badlands have been included in the boundaries of Grasslands National Park; gas and oil exploration rights have been extinguished within the park boundaries;
• research into the reproductive success, survival and habitat selection and availability has been in progress since 1997;
• Sage Grouse were legally listed as an endangered species in Saskatchewan in 1999;
• a national Sage Grouse Recovery Team was established in 1998;
• the draft Sage Grouse Recovery Strategies document was circulated in January 2000; and
• new guidelines for industry and ecotourism are in the process of being finalized.

The recovery goal is to recommend actions that will lead to Sage Grouse reaching a self-sustaining population that is neither endangered or threatened. In Saskatchewan, this would be 500 males in the spring count and an increase to 30 active leks.

Sage Grouse evolved with the plains bison and the native grassland ecosystem. Their decline is an indicator of the loss of native plants and other wildlife which were once part of this ecosystem. More work needs to be done to raise awareness about the threats to the survival of the Sage Grouse in Saskatchewan. Conservation groups, wildlife agencies, landowners, industry, ecotourists and the general public all have a part to play in protecting both the Sage Grouse and its Silver Sagebrush habitat for the benefit of future generations.

If you are a landowner and have Sage Grouse on your land, this indicates that you have been a good steward of the native prairie. You may like to protect the Sage Grouse habitat and receive some financial considerations through the Saskatchewan Conservation Easement program. For more information about this program where you can protect endangered species and habitat, while retaining title to your land, go to www.serm.gov.sk.ca/ecosystem/conservationeasements.

Selected References: Please contact your local library, or the publishers of the documents listed below if you wish to research the Sage Grouse in more detail.

Aldridge, C. L. 1998. Status of the Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus urophasianus) in Alberta. Alberta Environmental Protection, Wildlife Management Division, and Alberta conservation Association, Wildlife Status Report No. 13, Edmonton AB. 23 pp.

Aldridge, C. L. 1999. Reproductive ecology of Sage Grouse in Canada. Unpul. Report. Prepared for the 1999 Sage Grouse Funding Partners. Department of Biology, University of Regina, Regina SK. 38 pp.

Harris, W., Lungle, K., (Co-chairs) et al. 2000. Sage Grouse Recovery Strategies. Draft. 48 pp.

Hyslop, C. (Editor) 1998. COSEWIC Status report on the Sage Grouse Centrocercus urophasianus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Wildlife in Canada. 40 pp.