Sage Grouse

by Marty Fancy

Title

Sage Grouse

Artist

Marty Fancy

Medium

Photograph

Description

The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is the largest grouse in North America. Its range is sagebrush country in the western United States and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. It was known as simply the Sage Grouse until the Gunnison Sage-Grouse was recognized as a separate species in 2000.

Adults have a long, pointed tail and legs with feathers to the toes. Adult males have a yellow patch over the eye, are grayish on top with a white breast, a dark brown throat and a black belly; two yellowish sacs on the neck are inflated during courtship display. Adult females are mottled gray-brown with a light brown throat and dark belly.

Greater Sage-Grouse are notable for their elaborate courtship rituals. Each spring males congregate in leks and perform a "strutting display". Groups of females observe these displays and select the most attractive males to mate with. The dominant male located in the center of the lek typically copulates with around 80% of the females on the lek. Males perform in leks for several hours in the early morning and evening during the spring months.

This male was displaying just after dawn in a lek in Utah in April.

Uploaded

June 8th, 2014

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