BASIC FACTS ABOUT SAGE-GROUSE

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are a striking and charismatic bird

that derives their name, food and shelter from the sagebrush on which they depend.
Both males and females are a mottled, brownish-gray. White chest feathers and
specialized head feathers distinguish males during the spring breeding season. Males
also have long black tail feathers with white tips, while female tail feathers are mottled
black, brown, and white.

Sage-grouse are the charismatic ambassador for the Sagebrush Sea, a little known but critically
important western landscape that supports hundreds of fish and wildlife species. A classic umbrella
species, sage-grouse need large expanses of healthy sagebrush grasslands and functioning
hydrologic systems to survive and flourish. Conserving sage-grouse will benefit a host of other
species in the Sagebrush Sea, pronghorn, elk, mule deer, native trout, and nearly 200 migratory and
resident bird species.

DIET
While sage-grouse will feed on wildflowers, insects and forage crops in spring and summer, they
depend on sagebrush for food year round, and especially in winter when sagebrush is the only
available food source.

Did You Know?

Sage-grouse were once prolific in the West. Native Americans celebrated the species, and explorers, settlers, and
government surveyors reported seeing huge flocks of the birds.

POPULATION
The total population is estimated between 200,000 and 400,000 sage-grouse in the U.S.

RANGE & HABITAT

Greater sage-grouse are a widely distributed but sparsely populated species that occur in Oregon,
Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, with remnant populations in Washington,
California, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The species has been extirpated
in Nebraska and Arizona. A genetically distinct population of sage-grouse occur near Mono Lake
along the border of east-central California and southwestern Nevada.
Sage-grouse are low, fast fliers. But they also have relatively poor eyesight. Sage-grouse commonly collide with
barbed wire fences, guy wires for wind turbines and other obstructions that are difficult to see, often with fatal
consequences.

BEHAVIOR
The sage-grouse mating ritual is fascinating to observe, and often described as among the most
stirring and colorful natural history pageants in the West. In early spring, at dawn and often at dusk,
sage-grouse congregate on "leks"—ancestral strutting grounds to which the birds return year after
year. Leks vary in size from one to 40 acres and may be up to 50 miles from the birds’ winter
habitat. To attract a hen, cocks strut, fan their tail feathers and swell their breasts to reveal bright
yellow air sacs. The combination of wing movements and inflating and deflating air sacs make an
utterly unique "swish-swish-coo-oopoink!"

REPRODUCTION
Hens nest under sagebrush, screened by tall grasses. They will lay a clutch of 6-10 eggs. Chick
survival is reduced by poor habitat quality and is one of the limiting factors in sage-grouse
population growth.