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Sage Grouse Mating Ritual

fws.gov
Sage grouse mating ritual

The sage grouse mating season is now underway in Utah. 

Those unusual sounds among the morning song birds belong to Utah’s most unique upland game bird, the sage grouse.

“The male is going to puff up, he’s going to flare out the tail feathers and they have these air sacks that they inflate there to make these unique noises. That’s all they really do draw in these females to come in and mate with them.”

That’s Scott Gibson, a wildlife conservation biologist for the south-eastern region of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

“It’s unique in the upland game birds, you don’t don’t have other species that are coming out in these communal displays of their mating ability.”

Brad Crompton, a wildlife biologist for the Utah division or Wildlife, says sage grouse in Utah are more unique compared to other areas in the western United States.

“Sage grouse numbers here in Carbon and Emery county have been stable and slowly increasing over the last couple of years. There’s been issues with sage grouse across the west in long and gradual declines that have wildlife biologists concerned.”

Brad says the positive increase is due to good weather and good management.

“Everything we’re on today is private land, grazed by private land owners. There are issues with adequate nesting issues for sage grouse in the springtime, but we haven’t had any conflicts or a whole lot of measures with grazing or sage grouse overlap.”

 “Grazing isn’t necessarily incompatible with sage grouse. When it’s done properly it can actually enhance habitat. These guys seem to be doing pretty well in the face of some of the grazing pressures that are up here. I think land owners have done a great job.”

Brad says the biggest threat sage grouse populations face is nest predation.

Nest success is really key to sage grouse increasing or the survival and production of sage grouse. Nest predators typically are ravens, magpies, it can be ground squirrels and coyotes as well. There’s also predators on adult birds, which most often around here are coyotes and golden eagles.”

Melissa Prince and her brother Andy from Draper, Utah are happy the sage grouse are doing well.

 “I’ve always liked birds. My brother is into ornithology and has been dragging me around for years and has kind of brushed off on me. I always take binoculars and a bird book wherever I’m going. It’s really impressive the way the tail feather spread out and the pattern of them is really beautiful. The way the chest puffs up. It was worth driving down here two hours.”